pholkhero said:
Several hours later, the young womans eyes swollen and bloodshot from her sadness, she woke up to see the noonday sun high overhead. My family, she thought to herself . . . murdered. And now, what? Me, a leader of men? A general?? And the enemies of Tokugawa, here?!? For me?? Nonsense, she thought to herself, nonsense . . .
Stricken with grief for the grandfather that wasn't, and the family she had never known, the young woman returned to the village. She didn't want to believe his tale of murder, war and destruction, lest of all because he had spoken of his fears that these were stalking her to this tropical paradise. However, she could see no reason why the old man, the only family she had ever known, would have lied to her on his death bed, so believe him she must.
But first she must grieve. Grieve for lives lost, and those that surely would be if the old man's dire warnings came to pass.
Returning to Thebes and the Egyptian people who had always welcomed her as one of their own, she put all thoughts of the dark prophecy to the back of her mind. For the time being, there were more pressing matters to attend to: the old man had to be buried and the customary period of mourning observed.
Some days later, Senemut, a member of the tribal council that governed Thebes, came to the hut which the young woman had until recently shared with the old man. He had to talk to her, he said, about troubling reports filtering back to the village from local hunting parties. Reports of warriors roaming the countryside; men with bloodlust in their eyes and blackness in their hearts; men the like of which this peaceful land had not seen before.
A shadow descended on the young woman's heart. Could it be that the dying man's prophecy were true? That enemies really were seeking her out in an attempt to extinguish her family line? Such thoughts were painful and distressing in equal measure, for if the basis for them were sound, not only did it mean the slaughter of the Japanese people who had given her life, but also the slaughter of the Egyptian people with whom she had shared it. By Amun, surely this could not be?
She had been too young to remember, Senemut said, but when they had been washed up on the shore all those years ago, the old man and golden child, he had told the elders everything of their plight. Of how they were fleeing from enemies innumerable with an insatiable desire for murder, and of the myriad sacrifices made to save both himself and the child. Her. Knowing the potential dangers, the Egyptians had taken them in and given them food and shelter, a new home and a fresh start far from the wartorn lands of their ancestors. It had been agreed that the girl should not be told of the past, spared the horrors and allowed as innocent and carefree an upbringing as possible. Those days, alas, had gone. If reports were to be believed then she was left with a stark choice: to run, flee and spend the rest of her days being pursued, relentlessly hunted for the blood that flowed in her viens; or to make a stand. Here, now, to face the enemies of her fathers, those who would butcher innocents, staining the earth with their blood. The Egyptian people would stand by her, Senemut said, whichever path she chose to follow, for such men were a threat to all and none could stand idly by whilst they scorned the gods with their wicked ways.
Senemut had presented this to her as a choice, but both of them new there was none. Not really. How could she run, when these men had killed her people? How could she run, when these men would stop at nothing until they had killed her too? How could she run, when surely they would rape, pillage, torture and slaughter their way through Egyptian lands in search of evidence of her whereabouts?
There was only one choice.
To stand.
To fight.
To avenge.
Their enemies were many. Ruthless, cunning, well prepared and well equipped. But to run would be a betrayal, not only of her forefathers, but of the peaceful Egyptian people who had given her life meaning and hope. She told Senemut that she would stand with him against the aggressors. How could she not?
It was then that they heard cries of alarm sounding all around them. A child breathless, wide-eyed with terror, burst into the hut. Men were coming, descending on the settlement as they stood there speaking. There was no time.
No time.