Chapter 2
Khnemhotep was amazed and disappointed that he wasn't spotted as he made his way to the ruined wall. Roman security was obviously lax in the city, or at least in the suburbs, and he was hungering for Roman blood.
People spotted him in the streets, but they were Egyptian. They chose to turn a blind eye to him. He is obviously going to stir up some trouble for the Romans, they thought, I won‘t stop him. Still, with his bearskin cloak, axe tucked in his belt, and alligator gauntlet, he must have been fearsome.
As Khnemhotep got to the wall, he heard something, and saw something moving in the shadows beyond the wall. He ducked behind a big rock, probably a projectile from the Catapults or a piece of the wall, and listened.
“—Egyptians—some fight,” one of the figures said in Latin, and barely audible because of distance.
“—sure did—killed—half of our forces,” another whispered, also in Latin.
“Those—went down in the end, though,” spoke the first, and raucous laughter filled the air.
Khnemhotep sneered, Those b@atards are laughing like it was nothing! he thought. He felt ready to leap out, and rip their throats out, but thought better. He waited until they had passed, and then charged at them. He swung as hard as he could with his stone axe, and connected with the back of a helmet.
A loud CRASH filled the air, as a huge dent appeared in the helmet of the unfortunate legionnaire, and he crumpled.
The other one turned and retaliated for his fallen comrade. His sword was swung in a wide arc, and connected with the axe. The axe had had enough. It shattered. The Legionnaire, overbalanced by the yielding nature of the stone, saw, but was unable to do anything about the fist coming towards his face.
With a loud CRUMPH, The legionnaire went down. Hard.
Khnemhotep thanked his gauntlet, now sporting a few drops of the legionnaire’s blood, and quickly grabbed his fallen opponent’s weapons. His axe was a total loss, now nothing more than a club.
He looked at the sky, and tried to figure out which way he needed to go. It was early morning, and the Sun was just peeking over the horizon.
He headed East, away from Thebes, and headed to the German controlled City of Memphis.
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The Captain of the Royal Legions walked through the military headquarters in Thebes. He was scared; most had gotten punishments far worse than a tongue lashing for better news than the news he bore.
He came up to the door, steeled himself, and knocked.
“Come in,” spoke a voice from inside.
The Captain opened the door, and saw Julius Caesar perusing over some maps.
“Ah, Claudius,” he said, “do you have him?”
Claudius decided to get it over with. “The safe house was empty. All that was found was a broken quill, and this,” and he placed Khnemhotep’s journal on the table.
Caesar looked angry, but Claudius continued, “It should also be known sir, that two members of the Royal Legions were attacked this morning during their patrol of the outer wall.
Caesar was now on his way to livid. He looked at the last few lines of written text in the journal, and spoke in a calm voice that was more powerful than any yelling he could have done, “I was expecting good news,” he paused to let this sink in, “And yet you bring me bad news. Terrible news, even, because you let a man get away, who wants so dearly to see me dead. Is this what your telling me?”
Claudius nodded.
“THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!” Julius screamed, “FIND HIM!! NOW!!!”
Claudius squeaked a “Yessir” before he fled.
Caesar looked back at the map, and considered sending a letter of congratulations to Otto von Bismarck, applauding him on a war well executed. He looked again at the map, and thought …and possibly to Shaka, to thank him for his use as a target for Egyptian troops. I may even give him some cash to help rebuild his empire.
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A German man came into the German Palace. “Sire!”
Bismarck looked up from his board game. “Ah Hans! What news on the war?”
Hans looked exhausted. “The Egyptians are no longer an independent state. Thebes has fallen to Roman troops.”
“Excel—” Bismarck broke off, “What was that?”
“I said Thebes is now in roman hands.”
Bismarck said, “Caesar is going to hand over control of Thebes, right?”
“I—”
“We had agreed on it. If he dragged me into this war, I would get Thebes!” Bismarck thought for a moment, and said, “Ready my chariot, and alert the 10th Swordsman division in Memphis. Tell them to meet me in Thebes.
Hans looked worried, but agreed.
As Hans left the Throne room, he was scared. We just finished the last war, he thought, Do we really have to jump right into another?
Please tell me what you think.
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