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Chapter Twenty-Six

Xxx

Egypt

Xxx

My hands are shaking, sticky with the oily cling of drying liquid that was rapidly cooling over my fingers. It was hard to grip the worn handle, the familiar hilt pressing into my palm was quivering even while stuck into something firm and no longer twitching in my grasp. A knife...why was I holding a knife?

Scuffles echoed out in the halls, the stonework around me bellowed with the shouts of fighting and death. I choked out a breath heavily, coughing and trying to adjust the weight trapping my other arm as the burden steadily increased and sagged back towards the bed I was crouching over.

I ignored the rushing feet outside the room, anxious but couldn't discern why until the haunting shouts drew close enough the echoes were discernible. I need to leave...I need to stop...what was I stopping?

The stickiness on my hands only grew worse; and while shifting to flex against the gummy feeling of the cooling slime, the oozing on the hand not gripping the hilt finally slowed to a stop. That caught my attention, and I glanced down to see the body in my arms fading into full dead weight.

Blood stained my skin, more than the splatters on my rough tunic as I weakly eased the body down to the ruined sheets. The knife slid smoothly from the back of the well and truly dead body I had killed. With the footsteps only increasing in volume, I tried to catch my breath, not realizing I wasn't breathing until the sob ripped from my throat in a painful jerk.

Tears blurred my vision, and I ignored the blood streaking across my face and smearing with the dust and ashes clouding the bronze skin, fear laced my heart as I wiped the moisture from my eyes. Slowly, I shifted the body leaning on my leg, fingers shaking as they brushed over the frozen form stained by blood.

"No..."

Someone shouted.

I couldn't stop it, not when the knife was flicked up in a spin, the hilt slapping my palm long enough to make contact before I flung it at the doorway suddenly occupied by a shadow. That body hit the ground much faster than the slow drop of the one next to me, and before I could protest I was turning back to the cooling person.

"Oh gods..." The words were heavy on my tongue, clinging in my throat, "Please...please...no...wake up...no...please..."

My voice wasn't my own, heavier with time and exhausted beyond belief...and completely out of my control. No matter how much I wanted to swallow back the words tumbling from my lips, I couldn't stop them. It was as if I was watching this life through someone else's eyes.

Choking on the sob in my throat, I leaned down, bloody hands smoothing over the bare skin that no longer held any warmth of life though my chest throbbed and begged for it to do so.

"What have I done..." I gently gripped the limp neck, fingers shaking and trying so hard to be gentle, "Oh gods...what have I done..."

The face, lax in death and staring blankly at nothing with the light behind the pale eyes forever gone, caught in my hand that jerked away in gut wrenching horror.

The face was mine.

My feet stumbled, tripping on the fur rugs adorning father's chamber floors, before righting myself and staring at the body lying prone on the bed, blue eyes murky and staring unseen back at me.

I screamed.

Howling into the night did nothing to ease the pain ripping my chest apart, not when the sobs choked my breathing, the tears clouding my vision thicker than the smoke staining the night sky outside the palace windows.

And yet no matter my grief...or guilt...the sheer agony dragging me down, it could not change the dead body stared at back with my own face.

Shouting echoed back, and I flinched violently, fumbling at the table nearby and coming up with one of father's-no mine-no his...the daggers, and a khopesh well oiled and sharp.

The slavers...the palace...

No...

A gruff voice broke my musing, my fingertips gracing down the khopesh curve while heavy feet stomped over the body in the door.

"It's done."

"Yes." My voice was hoarse, commanding, ruling.

"Good."

A low growl, before I spun and slid the blade through his neck, twisting to fully break his spine in the process and relieve the disgusting body of its head.

As the corpse slumped at my feet I turned, blood stained and blade dripping to face the other battle worn slavers.

Some made noise at their supposed leader decapitated on the chamber stones, others glanced over my shoulders to see the prone body behind me, eyeing the stillness with a mix of disdain and satisfaction.

"Look here boys...guess we got a new pharaoh."

The round of cheers that began in a low murmur soon grew into a thunderous roar, encompassing the palace as the last in the opposing soldiers threw down their weapons and submitted to my rule.

Everything blurred around me, and in a haze I shouted for the temple priests, for Esi...for Butehamun...for Setne.

Setne appeared just behind the priests, the men summoning their acolytes to assist them with the body. Formerly a second lieutenant, he'd climbed the ranks over the years of being the prince's guards, and now stood before the new pharaoh as the acting general.

"You shouldn't be here."

"I know."

"Then why?!" The snarl was low, pitched so the men that had dropped the bound Setne at my feet wouldn't hear in their arrogant distraction.

I leaned down, a fearsome sneer on my face, but my voice was pitched entirely too softly to be fierce, "Because dead is better then enslaved."

Setne flinched, slumping his shoulders to appear submissive, but his eyes lit up with a fire I sorely did not feel within myself. I'd waited too long for this position, but there was no way I could undo...

Jerking to my feet, I risked one more glance back at my...back at the body...before turning to address those approaching and awaiting my command. It took everything I had to choke back the sob in my throat, shifting into a snarl that earned a few flinches and even more expressions of grim acceptance as my blood stained appearance grew into the light of torches and the coming dawn.

"Time to accept your fates, submit...or die."

It was the first of many, that I would utter those words, even if I just didn't know it yet. The weight began to settle over my limbs again, an agony that rolled into the burden of the crown I was about to don. Holding the crown someone passed me in the returning chaos, I fell into a trance, years of training taking over as my mind just gave up on anything else.

Already, orders fell from my lips, death sentences to some, chains and slavery for others. So much sound and words and cries pooled around me, washing over my skin like smoke from a flame, it was nothing compared to the cloying sticky blood on my hands.

I paused the temple workers in carrying the sheet wrapped body from the chamber, pulling the small length away to reveal the lax face once again, blood wiped carelessly from the drained lips after having suffocated on the red liquid.

No one heard, or if they did it was not worthy to alert others, not as I leaned over to press a hand to the still face, uncaring I was adding more blood onto the bronze skin.

"Forgive me brother...for I can never forgive myself, I bid you safe passage into the after life...Ahkmenrah."

Xxx

Xx

Xxx

Sunday, 7:58pm

American Natural History Museum

Xxx

He awoke late, shooting up in the wooden coffin to have a shout die on his lips and tears already staining his cheeks. Lungs aching and throat choking on the dying sobs, he fought to compose himself as the museum faded into true darkness with a new sunset and growing night.

There wasn't much time for that though, he managed a few shaky breaths while dressing into the royal garb before shouting drew his attention.

It wasn't a question, he launched himself out of the exhibit and ran, sprinting through the dim halls to reach the yelling that echoed across the museum.

"Pharaoh! What is going on?!"

Teddy's exclamation didn't even break Ahkmenrah's stride, the president quickly rushing to keep pace when the shouting rose in volume. It went from panicked to overpowering.

And familiar.

"That's Jedediah..."

Ahk didn't falter, racing through the corridors to reach the Hall of Miniatures.

The shouting turned into outright howling, by the time Ahk skidded around the corner in his sandals, Jed sounded hysterical.

And that's exactly what they found, Larry struggling to pin Jedediah to the floor as the cowboy seized in pain and howled for air. No longer miniature at all.

Frozen at the entrance to the Hall, Ahk could only stare as Teddy dropped to the ground and braced Jed's legs, pressing on his knees to keep his jerking around to a minimum.

He thrashed in the president's and the night guard's grips, teeth gritted against the waves of pain shaking him to his core.

It felt like hours later, in reality it was maybe twenty minutes, before Jed's tight frame finally stopped shaking and let him go limp against Larry's chest and pant weakly for air that barely made it to his lungs.

"Jed...you ok?"

Groaning, the cowboy stayed still for another minute, before grasping Teddy's hand to be pulled into a slouched sit and lean heavily on his knees.

"I...I don't know."

Ahk eased forward, staring at the cowboy's flexing hands before carefully taking one of them in his own.

"Thought the tablet fixed this?"

Jed's confusion didn't aid Ahk's fingers, and they hesitated before continuing to ease the leather glove off. Both froze once the glove was gone, bronze fingers brushing over calloused pale skin that did not shine in the museum lights. Did not shine like molded wax.

"Would one of you please care to explain?!"

"Oh goodness General!"

Teddy quickly supported Octavius to a more convenient height, the Roman still of a Miniature stature and watching anxiously as Larry kept Jed from falling backwards. The cowboy ran his other hand through his hair, grimacing a little and flexing the hand Ahk still held.

"Has anyone noticed we are once again the only ones awake?"

"Octavius-"

"Come now Lawrence, don't panic-"

"My liege I thought this was behind us-

"General," Ahk's voice dropped, the low growl stopping their loud arguing before the pharaoh spoke again, "Your sword."

"Pharaoh?"

"Ahk?"

"Your sword!"

Handing over the minuscule blade, Octavius faded into silence, staring at Jed's face when the cowboy glanced at him, both utterly lost. At least until Jed hissed, flinching before looking to the line of blood on his thumb from the general's blade.

"What-"

Ahk wiped off the sword, passing it back without looking, "It's not wax."

"Ahkmenrah," Teddy grabbed the pharaoh's shoulder, "What are you saying?"

"It's not wax...you are not wax."

"But that's-Pharaoh!"

Ahk was already on his feet again, chest pounding as loud as his feet on the floor but he couldn't stop. Racing through the silent halls again was not what he enjoyed but he had to understand, he had to know.

Larry had caught up with him by the time Ahk reached his own exhibit, eyes flickering over the tablet before racing through even further to the far corridor.

Plastic sheeting protected some of the area, concealing the wooden pedestal within that was cast with dark shadows. The night guard's hand caught on Ahk's arm before he could continue, calming some of the frantic feeling in Ahk's chest before Larry moved the curtain himself.

The low groan that slid from Ahk's throat had nothing to do with him hitting the floor on his knees, it had nothing to do with the completely empty pedestal lined with painted hieroglyphics that were no longer pristine and new, but cracked and ruined in the light...

It had everything to do with the thick layer of dust coating the floor, draped out in the silhouette of a body.

"What...what happened..."

Ahk could only shake his head, his throat closing up as his fingers brushed over the lines of dust of what could have been a hand.

"Lawrence! What is..." Teddy cut off his own words, freezing at the plastic sheeting that blocked the new exhibit from the rest of the museum, Jed stumbled behind him, standing stock still while Larry crouched behind Ahk in silence, "Lawrence...where is Kahmunrah?"

"I..."

"...gone..."

"Ahk?"

Shaking his head, Ahk hissed frantically, forcing the words out around the tears on his face, "He's gone! He did this...he must have grabbed the tablet after I fell asleep..He...oh gods..."

"He told me, we would never trust him, that he couldn't fix the past." Teddy explained.

Larry stuttered for a second, hovering close by like he was afraid to touch Ahk, like the pharaoh would break, "That...that doesn't make any sense..."

"By the grace of Pluto-"

"Ockie?"

The general wavered before going on, his voice carrying over even from his small size with ease, "Could not change the past...but affected the future entirely."

"What are you talkin' about?"

"A life for a life."

"Pharaoh?"

Ahk groaned, unable to bite back the sob this time and giving in when Teddy knelt behind him, the president instantly wrapping his arms around the shaking pharaoh, "What is it lad?"

"A life for a life...the cost of the tablet. Kah-He paid the price..." Ahk couldn't go on, sobbing into Teddy's shoulder while Larry stood up in shock.

"That means..."

Octavius cut the night guard off, somber in his tone, "Jedediah is no longer bound to the museum."

Xxx

"...life for a life..."

Jed was numb, barely able to comprehend the words being said until Larry's hand clapped down on his shoulder, careful not to jar the cowboy bad enough and drop Octavius.

It took the night guard two repetitions of his question before Jed understood, nodding mutely first, before shaking himself out of the trance.

"Jed? C'mon man, talk to me."

"I..." Trailing off was easier than fumbling his way through anything else, and it took Octavius loudly requesting for Larry to pick him up for the blond to even notice the general had been garnering for his attention.

"Theodore, what time were the championships scheduled to end?"

"General, I-"

"What time?"

Roosevelt shook himself slightly, recognition dawning across his face way before Jed could understand the question, "Midnight, it was to end at midnight."

"Then we still have time, Larry, you need to leave-"

"Octavius-"

"We can manage, the museum is asleep-"

"What are you-"

Ahkmenrah jerked to his feet, leaning heavily into Teddy's grip before he abruptly pulled Jed into a hug. The cowboy took it fiercely, not entirely sure why until the pharaoh pulled back with his hands on the blond's shoulder.

"Go."

Shaking his head, Jed stuttered to respond, "For the love of...Ahk-"

The pharaoh cut him off, "Exactly...love...and don't you dare deny it Jedediah, there was no other way. Go."

Clearing his throat, the president was next, the firm handshake switching into a tight embrace before Teddy clapped Jed on the back, "Take this my boy, you deserve it."

"But I-"

"Jedediah."

Octavius had pulled off his helmet, staring the cowboy straight in the eyes before he saluted him proudly, bowing a bit before climbing over to Roosevelt's waiting hand, "Go my friend, it's where you belong, I will see you...on another night, perhaps."

That was enough to get Jed crying, the tear sliding down his cheek before he could stop it, he almost didn't move, but his feet jerked back in a halted step away before locking eyes with Larry in a panic.

The night guard was grim faced, but determined, cell phone out and busy without even looking up, "Gonna be tight, Jed...it's really up to you-"

"But..." He was already stepping backwards, unable to stop as Larry started towards the loading dock and his car, "Wait...Ockie-"

Jerking to a stop, he could only stare, the general waving slightly before pushing his arm through a rigid American salute, it was forced and uneven, but it earned a small grin all the same. Jed ducked his head, before nodding, the grin widening a bit when Octavius straightened up fully into a formal stance.

"Jedediah go! You're running out of time!"

He spun on a heel, the slow walk turning into a sharp sprint beside Larry as they thundered through the halls. They made it across the second floor before he heard the faint echoes of someone crying, Jed wished with more than anything he could turn around, but Larry just shook his head at the hesitation, pulling on the cowboy to move.

Teddy would stay with Ahkmenrah tonight, and tomorrow was another sunrise.

Xxx

Xx

Xxx

"Okay, yeah I can pick those up in the city no problem, and McPhee will unlock the door for me tonight...yeah almost, see you there..."

He drifted back to paying attention in pieces, having spent the last couple hours in a haze and just staring out at the world beyond the car windows. Larry had taken it in stride, talking on the phone to several people with a wide range of success before bringing Jed's focus back to the present as he hung up on the last one.

"Hey, you with me?"

Jed nodded, throat tight around oxygen that hadn't quite figured out how to work within new lungs, the ache of the muscles stretching and flexing beneath quivering skin.

"Jed...are you okay?"

No...he wasn't...his entire body was sore like he'd been pounding railroad spikes in the heat before being dunked and held in an icy lake. But...there was a heart within his chest that throbbed with every beat, quickening in anticipation as Larry's car pulled up to the McCarthy Center.

"...Cheryl's old college buddies is going to help her get you IDs and paperwork made up, the advantage of having a historical document restorer as a friend, good for forging stuff. I told her to keep you in the city for a bit so we can help get you settled, the fall home for the horses is a few hours away..."

Larry's voice faded in and out, nervous rambling the night guard couldn't quite get a handle on as he pulled into a rare parking space in the front rows. It took a hand clasping his arm for Jed to move, climbing from the car on shaky legs before following Larry inside while lost in a fog.

Music was blaring in the Center, the deep bass an echoing drum beat that pounded Jed's very core, the consuming crowds of people all around him as he moved in a haze. Following Larry was all he could focus on, not even reacting when the buzzers screamed out over the static crackles of the intercoms.

Jed barely realized where they were until his hands clapped on the fence pipes of the Arena, Larry bumping into his shoulder while shouting over the noise to Cheryl on Jed's other side. The woman's hand was gentle on the cowboy's back, her face open and welcoming before the sharp peal of the buzzer jerked his eyes to the chaos of the open arena.

Without a second of falter, Choco ripped across the arena in a blur of painted hide and dark black. Kate's hair billowed out from under her hat in a wild mane that rivaled her mount's in the glowing intensity under the lights. It was if she was glued to the black saddle, hands poised at the horse's neck and blending seamlessly into the dark tack with her own midnight colored clothes.

Turn around one...

Sharp green eyes bored over Choco's ears, locked on their goal just a few strides ahead without missing a beat.

Turn around two...

Jed wasn't breathing, barely blinking to not miss even a fraction of a second, his hands gripped the fence so tight the flesh ached to the point he knew he'd acquired his first bruises.

Turn around three...

His voice caught in his throat, stuttering out from a breathless whisper into an all out roar, hollering on repeat as the heavy hooves slammed into the arena dirt louder than gunshots.

"...go...go...go-go-go-GO!"

Race to home for the whistle blow-

"...With a time of 13.98 seconds...Kate Smith WINS!"

Choco was huffing heavily as he cantered around the arena to cool off, Kate riding through her victory lap as the arena blew up into cheers. On camera she was hands free on the reins, pounding a fist in the air and waving to the crowds.

Judges met her in the center of the ring with a flower cape for Choco and ribbons for the rider, shaking her hand throughout the endless cheering. Cheryl was over the fence before anyone could stop her, Jed following when Larry literally pushed him to do so. His boots dropped to the dirt, and he was running.

Cheryl had already taken the ribbons from Kate's hand, steadying the puffing horse while Kate had spun to sit with one leg hooked on the saddle horn for pictures. Jed didn't see any of that until much later, all he could see were the bright emerald eyes locking on sky blue when Kate launched herself out of the saddle and into his arms.

She was laughing, bordering on hysterical as he spun her around and lifted her feet clear into the air. Her joy was echoed by his own laugh that he almost couldn't hear over her dazzling smile. Setting her down was almost impossible, but she squirmed until she could face him properly.

The music shifted overhead, the lights changing from show room bright to colored glitters that sparkled over Kate's jeweled shirt, shining like a...

...sunrise...

"What are you doing here?! The museum-"

Jed shook his head, cutting off any protest as he hugged her tight and whispered in her ear, just the two of them.

"I'll stay with you 'til tomorrow's sunrise."

"But..." Kate's face shifted from concerned, to wide eyed and crying in a flash, "Tomorrow will always..."

He chuckled, the rumble in his chest getting Kate to melt in his arms.

"Then I guess we have forever."

...Take me home, country roads,

To the place, I belong.

West Virginia, Mountain Momma,

Take Me Home...

The End


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