MY DREAM WAS A reassuring one. I was before the mighty one, Amun-Re my protector. He was encouraging me to have good heart and courage in the rest of my task in Egypt as its King. I had successfully completed five Egyptian years. He was insisting that I complete the five years to come.
He promised his full blessing and assistance in all I had to achieve. He admitted I would undergo a difficult test of my character on a number of different occasions. However, in the end with the blessing of Amun-Re, all would be well, and I would eventually see my loved ones in my own time once again. The last thing I remember was Amun-Re, wishing me farewell until we met again.
The scene that met my sleep filled eyes, when I returned from the presence of the god, was one of bliss. The river was running very fast, and it was only five in the morning. The beautiful river mist was starting to rise, being burnt off by sun. I had risen from my couch on our elegant ship to survey the river and surroundings before I enjoyed my breakfast with my King's Friends.
Ky was licking my hand by my side. My four metre lion, weighing in at over half a ton, was easily the largest feline on the land mass of Egypt. We were nearly at our next stop in my whirlwind tour of my country, after I had destroyed the evil Ay and Horemheb. I had destroyed their images and memory from the fabric of Egyptian knowledge. My masons had been chipping away for months at all the monuments, to ensure that history would never know of their existence.
"Majesty" called my butler, "your breakfast is ready." My most enjoyable meal of the day. It was good because I was always hungry when I awoke from a deep sleep. Enjoyable because it was less formal than dinner time, and I could just chat with my best friends in an atmosphere of relaxation and friendship. Dinner time was a very formal occasion for an Egyptian Pharaoh; dressed up to the hilt in all my formal splendour, makeup, and all the jewellery I was forced to wear at these functions.
My bacon and eggs arrived piping hot from the ship's galley, with my fresh baked bread, and nice pure fresh fruit juice: Some small items of comfort that Robert Cooper could still obtain in ancient Egypt that he had enjoyed in London; I took full pleasure from them.
The old friends, having been thrown together when still small boys in the Egyptian Nobility Training School in Thebes, felt very much at home together, and I could be totally myself with them. We laughed and joked as we normally did at breakfast, with all kingly formality put to the side for an hour or so each day. That grounded me in humility, and stopped me from becoming an arrogant bastard, like so many of my ancestors on the Egyptian throne.
Of course when we graduated from the school at about thirteen years of age, the entire group of us went straight into the Royal Egyptian Army Officer Training School at Memphis, to commence our military training for our professional life as Egyptian Army Officers.
That is the reason my Egypt had such a powerful and excellent army. All of its Officers were trained from the age of four years for their eventual destiny as military leaders.
The King's Friends all loved each other and would each gladly lay down their lives for the other, no matter what.
Sudden screaming first drew our attention to the fact we were being attacked. Then a solder staggered into our breakfast room with a fire arrow sticking out of his left eye.
The initial shock took a few seconds to dissipate, as we watched in absolute horror as his handsome and proud face melted under the intense heat before us all. He fell to the deck, a figure of some humanity still, but mainly a husk remained looking remarkably like liquid wax. The lack of blood was amazing, but then the high temperatures had sealed the wound.
Our military training automatically snapped us out of our state of shock. We rushed outside to see what was amiss. On the ship's deck panic ensued. We were on fire and many of my men from the Thebes Division, and my Thebes Medjay were down, and many were dead.
I looked over at the port side of the ship. There was a great ship of war, firing fire arrows for all they were worth at us.
"Who are they?" I shouted to no none in particular.
A sailor shouted back at me. "They are Syrians, Majesty."
Bastards, I thought, how dare they attack my Egypt?
