Time Benders (5 page)

“What’s the matter, General?” Zack sat back and watched Jeff bounce the ball a couple of times on the stone floor. “Scared?”

“How dare you?” Horemheb growled. “Very
well. I will beat you at your silly game. And then you will pay for your insolence—”

“Wait.” Tutankhamen interrupted. “Since you are the one who made the challenge”—he pointed at Zack—“you must play also.”

“Me?” Zack squeaked. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but the sport of basketball just isn’t ready for Zack Griffin.”

“Don’t worry, Zack.” Jeff slapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll play them a little two-on-two and wipe the floor with them.”

“But you don’t understand, Jeff. I’m really awful.”

“Enough.” Tutankhamen moved to his throne. “You.” He indicated one of the guards who had played against Jeff earlier. “You will be Horemheb’s assistant. Let the game begin.”

“Here.” Jeff handed the ball to Zack. “We’ll take the ball first. You throw it in.”

Jeff moved out to the court. Horemheb stepped in front of him and Jeff slipped around to the outside. “Throw it, Zack.”

Zack pitched the ball as hard as he could. It flew wildly over everybody’s head. The guard
managed to get to it first. He picked it up and held it tightly in his arms. “What do I do now, General?”

“Hurry to the basket and throw it in, idiot.”

The guard held the ball to his chest and ran across the court. Jeff and Zack were waiting for him. Every time the guard tried to put the ball in the basket Jeff jumped up to block him. The guard turned to Horemheb. “I cannot, Master.”

Horemheb raced down the court and rammed into the two boys, knocking them back against the wall. The guard easily tossed the ball into the basket.

“There.” Horemheb wiped his hands. “We are the winners of your stupid game. That should teach you never to oppose the mighty Horemheb.”

Jeff stood and tried to catch his breath. “Not … yet … Your Generalship. Since we don’t have referees or a clock, the first team to make twenty-one baskets is the winner.”

“Why was I not told of this before we began?”

“And another thing.” Jeff took the ball out
of the basket. “You can’t run with the ball. That’s a different game called football. You have to bounce it the whole time when you go for the basket, and you can’t knock everybody down who gets in your way.”

“This person cannot be allowed to keep adding rules to this foolish game or it will go on forever,” Horemheb said accusingly.

“Are these all of the regulations, Brown Jeff Brown?” Tutankhamen asked.

“There are a few more but I don’t want to make it too hard for the general.”

“Very well. The game will proceed under these rules and no others. Continue.”

Jeff handed Zack the ball. “This time throw it to me.”

“Right.” Zack waited until Jeff was in position and lobbed the ball onto the court. It bounced up and hit Horemheb in the back of the head. Jeff recovered it and charged down the court, easily making a basket.

“The count is one basket for each side,” Tutankhamen called excitedly.

Jeff handed Horemheb the ball. When the big man took it he squeezed Jeff’s fingers.

“Let go, you big ape.”

“Pardon me, honored guest. I’m sure it was an accident.” Horemheb smirked and tossed the ball to the guard.

The guard tried to dribble but his bounces were too high and Jeff stole the ball easily. Horemheb blocked his attempt to move the ball downcourt, so Jeff bounce-passed to Zack. Zack fumbled the ball and sent it flying onto the royal table. Wine splattered all over the queen’s dress.

Jeff sprinted over to retrieve the ball. “Sorry, Your Highness. Just remember it’s for a good cause.”

“I certainly hope so.” Servants ran to Ankhesenpaaten to clean her up.

Jeff tossed the ball to Zack, who managed to catch it and quickly pass it back.

“Good move, genius. See, you’re getting better already. With a little coaching from me you’d probably get this game down in no time.” Jeff took a long shot from center court and scored another basket. “That makes two.”

Horemheb and the guard were running all over the court but couldn’t keep up with the
boys. Zack did his best to stay in their way while Jeff made all the shots. In less than fifteen minutes they had run the score up to 19 to 1.

“I … require a pause … to speak to my assistant,” Horemheb said, breathing hard.

“It’s called a time-out, General, and you got it. But don’t take too long. Zack and I are anxious to finish you off.”

The two Egyptians huddled in a corner while Jeff went to the table for a drink. The queen touched his arm quietly. “I don’t like this. General Horemheb is a master of trickery. Be careful.”

“He’d have to be a magician to pull this game out of the bag. Two more points and he’s out of your hair for good.”

“Don’t underestimate him. Once he went up against the entire Sudanese army with only a small force and came back victorious—with the Sudanese general in chains.”

“We are ready,” Horemheb announced flatly. The guard had switched places with him and Horemheb was the one throwing in. He pitched the ball to the guard and then
quickly moved in close to Jeff. The guard didn’t try to dribble downcourt. Instead he tossed the ball back to the general. Horemheb leaned back and drilled the ball straight at Jeff’s face.

Jeff staggered and fell.

“Time-out,” Zack yelled. “Jeff, are you all right?” There was no answer. “You knocked him out.”

“I don’t recall your associate naming this as an infraction of the rules.”

“Well, it is,” Zack barked.

“I will order my servants to carry him to the infirmary,” Tutankhamen said kindly. “We have the finest physicians in all the world. Meanwhile, the game must continue.”

“Continue?” Zack whirled around. “We can’t continue. My friend is unconscious.”

“But it was you who made the challenge, was it not?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

Horemheb threw the ball hard into Zack’s stomach. “What is the matter, foreigner? Scared?”

The cell door clanked shut for the second time that day. The guard sneered and shoved Zack inside, slamming the door behind him. “This time you won’t be getting out … ever.”

Zack sat on the cold stone floor, mumbling, “How do I get myself into these things?”

“You know what they say about people who talk to themselves.”

Zack jumped up. “Jeff? Is that you?”

“Yeah. I’m in the next cell over. The queen told the royal guard to escort me to prison just
as soon as I regained consciousness. I take it the game didn’t go so well after I left.”

“That’s an understatement. Horemheb and the guard made about a thousand points before I could blink. I never even got close to the basket.”

“That’s too bad. At least they didn’t deck you.”

“They didn’t have to. I told you I was bad.”

Jeff sighed. “I wonder what they’re gonna do with us.”

“According to the books I’ve read, they’ll either starve us or put us to work in the stone quarry.”

“Neither one of those would be my first choice.”

“Hold it.” Zack moved up to the bars. “Did you say the queen gave orders for you to be put here? I thought she was on our side.”

“I thought so too. Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson. Next time we go time bending I’m not stopping to help anybody.”

“You sound like you think there’s gonna be a next time.”

“I have faith in you, genius. If anybody can figure a way out of this, you can.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. But right now I’m fresh out of ideas.”

A large stone at the back of Jeff’s cell scraped against the floor and started moving sideways.

“Uh … something weird’s going on over here, Zack.”

“Psst.” A small brown hand beckoned Jeff from behind the stone.

Jeff stepped closer. “Who’s there?”

“There is no time for questions. Hurry. Follow me.”

“I purposely ordered you placed in that particular cell because I knew about the tunnels.” Ankhesenpaaten sat at the top of the grayish black steps. “Our ancestors used them to flood the prisons when they became too crowded. My nurse told me about it.”

“Your ancestors must have been real nice people.”

“Because you have tried to help me, I have made arrangements for my fastest chariot to be waiting at the palace gate. You can get away if you leave now. Travel to the sea.
Horemheb will look for you but I will send a decoy in the opposite direction to give you enough time to escape.”

“What about Zack? He tried to help you too.”

“I can do nothing for your friend. His cell does not have a tunnel entrance. I am risking my life for you as it is.”

“Sorry, Your Highness. I can’t leave him. We’re in this together.”

“Very well.” The queen stood. “You are on your own. I will deny ever trying to help you.”

“Well … thanks for getting me this far.”

The queen peered out the doorway at the top of the stairs. Without looking back, she slipped through the door and faded into the darkness.

Jeff ran back down the stairs and squeezed through the opening to his cell. He pushed the stone back, leaving a crack just large enough to slide his finger through.

“Jeff, are you there?” Zack called.

“I am now.”

“Where’d you go?”

“Keep your voice low. If the guards hear you they’ll come down here. Listen, my cell has a secret opening to a tunnel that leads out of here. Ankhesenpaaten said they used to flood the prison with it.”

“Ankhesenpaaten?”

“She was here. Never mind about that. We need to figure out a plan. I could go out the tunnel and maybe come around. I might be able to surprise the guards and—”

“And get your head cut off for escaping.”

“You have a better idea?”

“Yeah. Ever heard of Br’er Rabbit?”

“Who?”

“It’s an old story about a rabbit that outfoxed a fox. Here goes nothing.…
I don’t have to put up with you
!” Zack shouted. “
Who do you think you are, threatening me like that
?”

“What’s the matter with you?” Jeff tried unsuccessfully to stick his head through the bars to get a better look. “Are you crazy?”

“
Guard! Guard!
” Zack yelled at the top of his lungs. “
Get me away from him. He’s trying to kill me
.”

The jailer hurried down the steps and saw Zack cowering in the corner of his cell. “What’s going on here?”

“It’s that maniac in the next cell,” Zack declared. “He says he’s gonna rip me apart. You have to do something.”

“You called me down here for
that
? He can’t even reach you. Now be silent before
I
rip you apart.” The guard turned to go back up the steps.

“You mean you’re not going to put me in his cell like he told me you would? Oh, thank you, thank you. I wouldn’t last five minutes in there.”

The guard stopped. He chuckled to himself and took out the keys. “That is a very good idea, foreigner. By tomorrow morning, if I’m lucky, maybe I will only have one of you to put up with.” He unlocked Zack’s door and dragged him out kicking and screaming.

Jeff stood back and waited while the jailer tossed Zack into his cell.

“Well?” the jailer asked. “I thought you were going to rip him up.”

Jeff walked up and punched Zack a straight
shot to the forehead. Zack went down like a stone.

“That’s it?” The disappointed guard turned on his heel. “One hit?”

“If I do it slowly it’s more fun.”

Another guard called and their jailer left them. They waited until they heard him close the door at the top of the steps.

“You were great,” Jeff whispered. “I thought I’d actually knocked you out.”

Zack didn’t answer.

“Zack?” Jeff shook him.

Zack mumbled, then took a breath. “What happened? Oh yeah, you hit me. Hard.”

“I had to—otherwise it wouldn’t have looked real.”

“Next time I’ll settle for a little less real.” Zack sat up and shook his head. “I can still see stars.… Where’s the tunnel? We’d better get out of here before he gets curious and comes back and you have to hit me again.”