Two Eyes Cenote hard spires

twenty-seven days after being brought back to muat-riya, near a moon of laying in silent coma, in the month of Hathor, khusobek came awake with a roar and a gasp.

he remembered only pain, only the slow stripping of hide from his body and the tacky feel of clotting blood as it poured down his side. the crocodile recalled the woman's flesh tearing and tearing beneath his teeth, the shouts.

but all the remainder was blackened space.

attempts to roll seethed the captain with agonized groans. his shoulders were a mass of fire.

at the door, tavina whispered in a stuporous monotone; "tell pharaoh @Toula and semer-wati @Rashepses that khusobek has awakened."

when they arrived, her thinned and filthy spine would be bent over the soldier, wiping his mouth and feeding him water with herbs; any entry would see tavina fade to one side, head turning so they did not see her hatred.

At long last came the summons. Semer-wati gathered first with his wife before walking yet another circuit of the inner walls to the sesh’s chambers.

Upon entering Rashepses would smell the thick air and see the captain laid across a stone plinth. For only a moment his eyes would linger upon the doctor, who moved briskly from bedside to hover against the wall.

The king crossed the room. He had only look down to know how devastating Khusobek’s injuries were. Deep, terrible gashes marred the strong face– but it was no matter. The captain would make common cause with his royals, and beauty need play no part in it.

“Jodai,” the golden gaze slid over his face, “Sekhmet has favored you.”

"where are my children? where is inji?"

the captain's voice broke upon the sodden bow of disuse; he began to cough, wincing as the movement dragged at his torn flesh.

hatred and awareness burned in the man's gaze as he turned it away from rashepses and up toward the domed ceilings of the cenote. his mind struggled to remember what was only a searing blankness. "and did Sekhmet grant me a victory?" or must he earn again what had been robbed in blood?

Dry rasps punctuate yet Rashepses looks on forbearingly. The soldier’s ice eyes filled the room with a sullen cold glare but his mind was sharp still. Still strong.

“Your wife and children are all well; all accounted for. The young mazoi heals safely in Akashingo. They have been waiting for you to rise, jodai.” The king bore a smile then, appraising and true.

“The aggressors have fled the pass. Your daughter’s attacker slain. Pharaoh sees your determination to protect this land in its entirety; to drive out chaos and destroy falsehood. For Her jodai is constantly watchful, seeking what is most effective for Muat-riya.”

Life, prosperity, health. He saw it all in the face of the captain Khusobek. “Pharaoh rewards your efforts, jodai.”

praise which should have lifted those icy spirits only fell flat. he saw no evidence that he had killed one of them; thus he had failed in his aims and cost their campaign a valuable soldier in himself.

loathing filled khusobek. "glory to pharaoh," the jodai murmured, and this time he forced himself to sit up, long groan standing out in the muscles of thick neck and heavy shoulders.

what would @Machiavelli say now to see him so? even uglier than before. for some unknown reason, his dry mouth twitched in a moment of wry self deprecation. "it will be some time before i am able to return to my tasks, Semer-wati. but i will be able to train any new fighters before that."

A low groan, and it seemed to fester with a lack of proper gratitude owed his wife. The king hooked a brow and leveled his chin over the scarlet warrior. He could see the crusted blood and stains where herbs had been affixed to opened slashes. It would be some time before true strength was returned to the jodai.

“I am pleased to hear, Khusobek. Your efforts are needed elsewhere. Muat-riya will now fall under your singular command, as Wedjat. Your voice will govern the palace. Akashingo will conceive an army within these halls. You are warrior in chief, until my sons come of age, at which point you will have the honor of training your royal princes to become generals.”

Khaemwaset and Den had been shaped for rule since before they could walk. They would be trained in arms as befits a knight, and then as tacticians as befits a Pharaoh.

"i obey," he began to say, but then the eyes rheumed in pain turned toward the flower-speaking Consort. "you grant me a great respect in your replacement of eset," khusobek grunted. trying not to think of the wide ripple of naked flesh along his back.

where was she? where had she gone? something tingeing the look in rashepses' eye suggested that the captain only bow his head and be thankful for the opportunity.

but where was she? what had gone on in his absence?

"when will you send the princes?" how many days did he have to stand on four legs and search for eset himself?

A soldier on the mend, yet Rashepses was surprised to find more despondence than fire in the captain’s breast. This opportunity to take up the mantle as general and regent, was it not the dream of every man?

There was an edge to the sharp jaw. The king was resigned that the healing wore him, softening ambitions.

“The amiir’s training will commence in three weeks' time.” His hardly-grown sons were old enough now to wield their weight and practice diplomacy.  It would do Muat-riya good to have regal blood in the halls, and ample time for the wedjat to establish dominion. 

Semer-wati was pleased, so shone in the gold disc eyes of Ra.

"three weeks," khusobek nodded, head spinning. when he had wakened it was in agony. his life had changed in a series of seconds and all he was able to muster was concern.

it remained.

"i tortured the man soto before he was exchanged. in the future, as your wedjat, i will make no negotiation." at last his voice began to glisten with some life, some darkness. "is this something you want your sons also to learn, Divine One?"

he would not give it up. he would not surrender it. a muscle flinched in his jaw.

"i humbly ask that you send @Safiya on escort with the princes. i desire that she becomes second here." by her own shed blood had she earned a seat in rashepses' vision. "muat-riya will birth your soldiers."

and he would wipe the cartel from the face of the desert.

At last there breathed some passion into the man which appeased Semer-wati.

“It is not happenstance that put a lion on our mesa. All the Teekon will fear the wroth of an Akashingo Prince. Teach them the lion’s mercy, Wedjat,” that was none at all. “Flay any man who crosses the crown– or any woman.”

His tail flicked and with open animosity hung over the spine of sesh before parrying back to the guard. Enough; now.

"The young mazoi will be returned," he agreed. "Rest. Heal. Muat-riya needs you well.”

He slipped from the rooms. In the morning he would return to Akashingo, eager to reunite with his childen.

<3

wedjat!

and the crocodile could not muster a single iota of goodwill.

grateful though he was and deeply surprised besides, eset's disappearance, machiavelli's status as gone, and the doctor's glaring face disturbed him.

he sent her away with a wave of his newly sanctioned hand, watching as her dark fur disappeared from view. gently khusobek lay back upon the velveteen furs, but sleep did not overtake the agony for many hours.