The Pharaoh's Guard: 7

Washington D.C, United States, 2014 AD

As the sun peeked over the horizon, Radames found himself awake on Mallory’s sofa. He laid there unsure of what to do while he waited for his hostess to awaken. After a few minutes of staring at the artificial sun with blades, who was still fighting viciously even without it’s light shining, he opted to get up. His clothes, or rather Jim’s clothes, lay in a heap beside the coffee table. Gingerly, he bent to retrieve them and began to dress himself. Though they weren’t the traditional garments he was used to, and they itched and restricted his movement to a degree, he had to admit that he did kind of like them. There was something about the leather jacket. When he looked in the rectangular mirror that hung above Mallory’s television, he couldn’t help but feel pleased at his appearance. That jacket made him look formidable.

‘If Tau could see me now,’ he thought to himself. A frown came to his lips at the thought of his friend. If only Tau was with him. Despite the other guard’s clumsily and fearful nature, he was strong hearted, level headed, and loyal to a fault. He would have loved to go on this adventure with Radames. If only he had come back too. As it was, Radames was left alone in a world unlike his own. Well, not completely alone. He did have Mallory and the girl may have been plain by his time’s standards but she certainly wasn’t harmful on the eyes. He wondered why she didn’t paint her face though, or wear jewels. At first he thought she might be too poor to avoid such luxuries, but she seemed to be taking care of herself and her home quite well. She even mentioned having a job. Yet, the only jewel he saw on her was an emerald ring with some markings engraved on it, and that she didn’t even wear on her finger. Instead she kept it on a thin chain around her neck.

The other girl, Holly, whom Radames had met at the movies had worn jewels. She had her lips painted and her eyes colored. Even her cheeks glowed unnaturally. Her ears had held diamonds, her throat laced with a delicate butterfly shaped necklace. Her hands had borne not one or two, but three rings. Two of which were on her right hand while the third was on her left ring finger.  Holly didn’t appear to be Mallory’s superior, so if the girls were both able to afford the beauties that was jewels and paint, then how come Mallory didn’t wear any?

‘Unless,’ he thought, ‘that Brian man is of high ranking.’

Perhaps that was it. Holly obviously belonged to him by the way he kept an arm around her for most of the night. Maybe he was of high status and had bought her the jewels and paint. Maybe the reason why they were friends with Mallory was because she and Holly had been friends before Brian had claimed the blond.

But then, that brought forth another question. Why wasn’t Mallory claimed? She was obviously of age if she was living on her own. Yet, she hadn’t shown affection to a man like Holly had. Perhaps Radames just hadn’t met her lover yet. Maybe she was involved with someone of very low status so she didn’t feel comfortable inviting him along with them the night before. Then again, he couldn’t help but notice Jim’s watchful eyes. The other male didn’t like Radames and him and Mallory had a few scuffles.

‘Maybe he had once intended to marry her,’ Radames moved away from the mirror to fold the blanket he had used and lay it over the back of the couch. ‘That would explain his aggressiveness towards me, but something had to have gone wrong with him and Mallory for them to be as spiteful towards the other as they were.’

“Good morning,” a sleepy eyed Mallory emerged from her bedroom with a tiered smile.
Radames' coffee eyes grew large, his posture stiffening.

“What?” she paused, pushing some of her tangled hair away from her face. Almost as soon as she had finished her question she shook her head. “Never mind, I forgot you can’t understand me.”

“I understood you,” Radames spoke in perfect English.

The young woman’s jaw dropped. She raised a shaky finger to point at the tall Egyptian. “You...you just talked. In English!”

“Is that the name of the language you speak?”

“How are you doing this? You couldn’t do this yesterday. You couldn’t understand a thing I was saying. I know you couldn’t!” she stared at him as if he had suddenly sprouted another head. “You were like a confused toddler.”

Radames thought for a moment. What was taking place shouldn’t have been possible. He had grown up knowing Egyptian, had died speaking it, and rose again with its words still trapped in his mind.  How could he now understand and speak Mallory’s tongue?

‘English,’ he reminded himself. She had called the language English. Then it dawned on him. His prayer. Before he had fallen asleep he had silently asked the gods for their aid. They must have blessed him. They must have heard his pleas.

“The gods,” he spoke excitedly. A boyish grin took over his face. “I prayed to them last night. I requested their aid. They must have heard me.”

“The gods…as in the Egyptian gods?” Mallory inquired. Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that her guest could now speak perfect English as well as understand it. “Like Ra, and Bes, and Isis, and Set, and all those other guys? Those gods?”

Radames was fuddled, “What other gods are there?”

“Well, there’s the Roman and Greek ones. Not to mention the one Christians serve. And then there’s the Muslim’s god, and several religious figures like Buddha. Then you have people who worship the devil. Though I don’t know if he can actually be ranked in the same category as gods…even though he’s worshiped.”

Radames stared at her blankly.

“It’s called religion,” Mallory tried to clarify. “Everyone has one and their own thoughts on who rules the universe.”

“I see,” Radames spoke slowly. “This time is…different. These people who believe in other gods must be confused, because only the Egyptian ones exist.”

“Watch who you say that to. You could start a fight.”

“I don’t want to do that. I am pleased to find out the Pharaoh and his ancestor’s efforts to rid the people of their beliefs in the gods failed. I am not sure though what to think of all these other gods.”

“Yeah, well, if you don’t believe in them than don’t believe in them. You have the freedom to believe in who you want in this world. Well, in this country at least. There are places you can’t believe in certain gods, which is a shame if you ask me. We have a right to believe in whoever and whatever we want. It’s not right that people try to take that away.”  

“And where is this country we're in?” He asked.

“America,” was her short reply.

“Is that anywhere near Egypt?”

“I’m afraid not,” Mallory smiled sadly. “After I call into work, we’ll go shopping to get you some clothes and then we’ll stop by the museum. You know who Hazel is, right?”

He nodded. “Yes, she is the kind woman who helped me upon my reawakening into the living world.”

“I’m hoping we can talk to her. See if she has any idea of why you might be here.”

“She said the rubies brought me back.”

“Cursed rubies,” Mallory shook her head, her mousy brown hair falling in front of her face. “I’m hoping history can show us a reasonable explanation for your arrival. Just let me go change and call my boss then we can leave. Are you hungry?”

Radames gave a curt nod as his stomach growled at the prospect of food.

“We’ll swing my McDonalds on our way to the mall.”

“What’s a McDonalds? And a Mall?”

“It’s easier to show you than tell you,” Mallory remarked with a small smile. “I think you’ll like both places though. Now, I’m just gonna go…um, yeah,” she pointed towards her room. “Be back in a few minutes.”

While Radames meandered around the living room, Mallory headed back to her room. After fishing out Jim’s clothes from her closet the other night she found it a lot easier to retrieve her favorite cap. With her Red Sox cap placed atop her limp hair a pair of well-worn jeans on her legs, and a Red Sox jersey, she was almost ready to leave. She slipped on a pair of red converse and threw on an old pair of black rimmed glasses. She rarely liked to wear her glasses, but that day she didn’t feel like messing with contacts. Grabbing her phone from her night stand, she made a quick phone call to the library to tell them that she was unable to go into work, and then she was once again headed to the living room.

“You ready?” she asked Radames as she fished her keys out of the bowl beside her door.

Radames standing was her answer and he followed her outside.

“Are we going to be using the yellow chariot again?”

“Huh? Oh, you mean the cab. Yeah, I thought we could take that again. Is that alright?”

The Egyptian nodded. “The chariot driver was a well-trained servant.”

“Cab, not chariot and please don’t call him a servant.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s not. He was just an honest man trying to make an honest living. He’s no more a servant than I am.”

They stepped out on to the street and Mallory hailed a cab. Together they climbed into the back of vehicle and Mallory gave the driver their destinations.