Called to Duty (Adventures Through Time) (2 page)

“No. I will not let you go back into battle.”

“I am now the ruler of our people and I will go,” she nearly barked.

“I don’t want to lose you.”

He couldn’t stop her and he knew that because now she was his ruler. Now he answered to her. “Then I would suggest we win.”

“Who are the strangely dressed ones?”

“From two thousand twelve,” she noted. “The goddess has sent us warriors.”

“Excuse us,” Alexander boldly stepped forward and the guards drew their weapons. Nefertari stayed their hands with a simple gesture.

“Speak,” she commanded.

“We don’t know what is going on here. One moment we’re in Afghanistan and the next we’re,” he waved his hand around… “we’re here.”

“You are in the era of the gods and goddesses; in a time when Egypt ruled. Your time is not here, but years away. The goddess has brought you back to balance the power.”

“Would have been nice if she had brought us back with our weapons.”

She shook her head. “Legend has it that no future weapons may return to the past. It would unbalance everything. But you can make what you need.”

“Not likely,” he mumbled. “So has this happened before? Not that I’m saying I believe you or anything.”

“Not that I know of; it is merely legend and now truth. You do not belong here. How else would you explain it?”

“Shared psychosis,” he said. “An elaborate Hollywood production.”

“What is Hollywood?” Inka scowled.

“Okay, look a lot has happened and I’ve seen a lot of strange things since being held in that stinkin’ building but time travel isn’t possible.”

“And yet you are here.”

“There has to be a logical explanation.”

“Well when you find it be sure to let us know. Now,” she returned her attention to Inka. “I must prepare for battle.”

“Must you go back out there tonight? I must get you back. Our people will need you on the throne.”

“I am a warrior. I shall fight.”

“You are now our ruling queen. You must rule.”

“I will not rule from behind my men!”

“They did things differently way back when,” Alexander noted. “Lead thee into battle,” he shrugged.

“Please get them some appropriate attire.”

“I don’t ditch my clothes,” they all agreed.

“You will stand out too much if you do not. You will be…”

“A sitting duck,” Alexander agreed.

“What?”

“Future metaphor,” he nodded. “We’ll change.”

“Get them weapons and make sure they can use them.”

“I think you should train them, Nefertari. You are one of our best warriors. Train the big one.”

“Hey,” Alexander took offense to that. He was six feet and built with muscles, but just because the other guys were five nine and under did not make him “the big one” in the least. Plus, he didn’t need training. After surveying the mass of swords and hooked blades he reconsidered that last thought. He knew hand to hand combat, but this was fighting with ancient weaponry and he couldn’t guarantee how effective he would be in battle without some training.

“Fine. I know you are just trying to keep me from getting on my horse and riding out there tonight. I will take them back to our home and prepare them, but you must come with me, Inka.”

Inka growled and Alex figured Nefertari had her own plans for keeping her brother out of battle without her. She was probably worried that he, too, would be taken from her because of this war.

“Fine. I cannot allow our new queen to travel alone.”

“You cannot,” she smiled. “Helos can command.”

“That I can.” A tall black man stepped forward. He was dark and bald, built bigger than some of the bodybuilders of their time, and he looked as if he could handle himself with that spear he had in hand. “Nefertari, my queen,” he bowed on one knee.

“Rise, Helos. You know you’ve chased me around the pond far too many times…”

“You are now our queen. Even as our princess your father reminded me of my place when it came to you.”

She wrinkled her nose and dismissed his words with a wave of her hand. “Helos has been with my family since he was a child. He and my brother are like brothers.”

“My mother,” the angry look that came to his face made him appear even more ominous. “Tuk, the predecessor to Ramathes decided he wanted my mother for his concubine. He killed my father, and rather than go with him my mother killed herself. I was going to be taken back to the heart of Egypt to serve as a slave, but I escaped and this family took me in—they sheltered me and now I shall die for them.”

“There will be no dying my friend,” Inka said boldly. “We will win. Should you manage to die before I return I will ask the gods to bring you back so I can kill you again.”

They both laughed. Alex took in everything that was happening around him. He was still trying to absorb the situation. Time travel was not possible. Time travel due to some mystical goddess seemed even more fantastical; yet here he was in a place and time that he couldn’t understand, or even explain. Maybe he was unconscious on the battlefield in Afghanistan and he was dreaming the entire thing. “Somebody hit me,” he mumbled. He wasn’t expecting anybody to do it, but Nefertari took him literally. She hit hard. He rubbed his chest from where she had hit him. “What did you do that for?”

“You asked for somebody to hit you; so I hit you.”

“That wasn’t literal.”

“It sounded literal.”

“It’s just…it’s something we say when we’re trying to…never mind.”

“No; please explain this weird custom of yours. Why ask to be hit if you do not wish to be hit?”

“It’s like when you don’t believe something is real so you tell somebody to pinch you to see if you’re dreaming. They don’t pinch you,” he said quickly when she appeared to be getting ready to pinch him.

“Oh,” she shrugged her beautiful caramel toned shoulders. She really was beautiful. Those big brown eyes were dark like the midnight sea. Her hair was long and curly yet it looked so soft that he wanted to brush his fingers through it. He had seen women pay hundreds and spend hours in a salon to get those same types of big, free flowing soft curls. His ex had nearly wiped out his bank account on twice a week salon visits.

“Maybe somebody can get me up to speed on what’s going on here—military-wise that is. I lead these men, and I’ve been in the military all my life practically given my father’s position. I can help strategize.”

“What do you think, Inka?”

“I think if the goddess brought them here then it is worth letting them help as much as they can.”

“Thank you,” she looked directly at him and something in him stirred. He knew what was stirring south of his waistband. He couldn’t figure out exactly what was stirring north of there. He had never wanted a woman so much in his life. Even Ellie hadn’t commanded his attention that way. Maybe because he had married Ellie to appease the family. His father was an Admiral, her father was an Admiral. Apparently they were matched from the start according to his father. His father was a good man, but he couldn’t vouch for how good of a father he was. He treated him like a SEAL from the time he could walk. He literally kept him in constant boot camp and he never, not even once, told him he loved him. And when he and Ellie got divorced he blamed him despite the fact that she had been shacking up with another man while he was deployed.

“We’re all in,” they unanimously agreed.

“Yeah, that guy threw us in their equivalent of the hole. I want to kick his a…butt,” Gregory modified his language for the lady.

“Then we will leave before dawn,” Inka nodded to Helos. “Take care of the warriors.”

“Take care of our queen,” Helos replied.

“Please get these men the proper clothing,” Inka told one of the nearby servants. “And find them a tent for the night.”

“There is one right next to this tent,” the young man said gleefully. “It is mine and you will have to share it with me, but you may rest your blanket on my sand.”

Inka laughed. “How many times do I have to tell you, Nuna, the sand does not belong to you.”

“It is in my tent therefore it must belong to me.” He informed him. “You four may come with me.”

“Where will you be?” Alex asked Nefertari.

“I can just take a spare tent.”

“There isn’t one. Perhaps I can ask one of the men to give up theirs.”

“No,” she shook her head. “I will sleep in here. The men need their rest for tomorrow they may have to fight. I merely have to make it back to my Nubian home. I will be fine in here,” she said as they all looked at her, each man willing to give up his space for her to have one. Then Alex realized, it would not be appropriate for the queen to share a tent with a man who was not of her family. That was why she had adamantly declined.

They found warrior garb that fit them, even if he would admit he felt severely underdressed. The pants covered everything, but the cloth he wore across his chest didn’t cover much at all. They were also going to be sleeping on the ground. He had done that before. Nuna spread the blankets out for them and they each picked one. He still couldn’t believe this was happening. There was some moment of thought that he would wake up back in his time because this still could be some shared psychosis or something. Maybe they had all broken psychologically from too much fighting, but he knew that wasn’t true. This was real…and if it wasn’t, then come morning he would have a whopper of a story to tell about his dream. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

He didn’t know how long he had been sleeping when he heard the sound of glass breaking. He bolted upright, as did the others. He ran out of the tent to see Inka and guards running into the commanding post. He followed without hesitation. What he saw when he got there was Nefertari in a battle for her life. She was fighting with two ancient blades just as the tall man had been. She was blocking every attempt he made to get at her. And just as quickly as the men beside him had pulled their swords, she sliced into her enemy, once at the chest, the next at his head—a head in which he lost.

“Fuck,” Gregory groaned. “She’s good.”

“What does this mean,” she said in perfect pitch as if she hadn’t just been fighting and decapitated a man.

“It’s something that should not be said in the presence of a lady or a queen,” he mumbled to Gregory who immediately apologized.