The Auburn Fox and the Rainbow Islands

Chapter 5: The Yellow Sands

The Pharaoh meticulously studied the slipper.

"What an exquisite foot must fit in this," he mused. "Horus has given this to me for a reason. But what is that reason?"

***

Nova climbed down the wall and waded through the mass of people.

"Excuse me. Sorry. Coming through. Welp. Sorry."

When they stumbled out of the crowd, they sneaked passed the guards and made their way to the Pharaoh.

"Huhm. Hi. Yeah," Nova said, "could you please give me the slipper?"

The Pharaoh looked Nova up and down. "Does this belong to you?"

"Not exactly."

"Then I'm not giving it to you."

"I need it," Nova said as they tried to pull the slipper out of the Pharaoh's hands.

The Pharaoh held on tightly. "Why?"

"I promised the girl by the river to bring it back."

"Did you say girl?" The Pharaoh stroked his nose. "Bring me to her."

***

Nova guided the Pharaoh on his camel and a zillion guards to the river.

The blonde girl sat near the rock clenching the other slipper tightly.

The Pharaoh gestured at the girl. "Is that her?"

Nova nodded.

"She has hair the colour of the sand and skin as fair as a... red Lotus. "

The girl stood up as she recognized Nova and rushed towards them.

The Pharaoh swooned as soon as he saw her feet. "Oh, those feet! I must marry her."

Nova raised an eyebrow. "Ask her consent first, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah." The Pharaoh gesticulated as he descended his camel.

He took the slipper out of his pocket and kneeled in front of the girl. He showed her the slipper while ogling her feet. "I believe this is yours, Miss?"

"Oh, my slipper, you found it," the girl said. She jumped up and down to the delight of the Pharaoh.

He was convinced: the girl with the beautiful feet should rule whole Egypt.

He stood up and bowed deeply. "May I have the honour to accompany you on a walk along our magnificent river?"

The girl smiled brightly while playing with her hair. "I'd love to, but I can't just yet. I have to wash all the clothes before they come back."

"Am I then allowed to help you wash those clothes?"

The girl giggled. "You are."

The girl took the Pharaoh's arm and walked with him to the river.

Under the shade of the Pharaoh's parasols, they washed clothes together and talked about everything that crossed their minds.

***

Nova headed back to the city.

After drinking water at the fontain, they decided to do some inquiries.

They approached a man sitting in an otherwise empty barrel of wine.

"Sorry to bother you, but do you know where I can find the Sorceress?"

The man looked Nova questionably. "Why do you need to find a sorceress and not a sorcerer? Did she curse you, youngling?"

Nova's hand felt the wound on their head. "I don't know. All I know, is that it's vital to find the Sorceress and I had hoped she'd help me figure out the why."

"Then you must call upon Aset, youngling. She will heal you and return your memories.

But she won't be easy to find, you know. Only the royal mage can contact her and she'll only show up if she feels worshipped enough."

Nova thanked the man. As they turned around, they bumped into a soldier.

The soldier looked down on Nova. "Hair like leather and impossible to tell what they actually are. Are you the one who helped the Pharaoh find the love of his life?"

"He sure was in love with her feet, but I don't know how she felt..."

The soldier took out a papyrus scroll and handed it to Nova.

Nova opened it to see nothing but hieroglyphs. "What's this?"

"Pharoah Psammetichus and his beloved Cleopatra hereby invite you to the banquet held in your honour to celebrate you helping them find each other."

"Nice. When and where is it?"

The soldier pointed at some hieroglyphs. "Tonight and," the soldier spoke as he turned around and pointed at a huge building in the center of the city, "there."

***

The sun set, basking the palace stairs in warm orange tints. Nova slowly ascended them as they looked over the city, passed its walls and into the desert far away.

Nova took a deep breath and handed over the papyrus as guards blocked their path.

The guards bowed and let Nova in.

The ceiling was high and so was the majority of the guests.

Nova made themselves as small and unnoticeable as possible as they were guided passed those guests and brought to the Pharaoh and Cleopatra.

When Nova took a seat, Cleopatra sighed. "It's great that I can be Pharaoh and all that, but look around you. How could I ever be proud ruling that?"

Nova pulled their lip down.

Cleopatra continued: "All they care about is decadency, but where is the splendor? Where is the elegance? Where is the glory of Egypt?

Not there.

All they care about is themselves, saying they'll do everything for the people while they just waste their budgets on what? Wine and opium."

Nova tore a piece off their bread. "What about taking the matter in your own hand?

You say you want to give to the people, right? And you want to restore Egypt's glory, so why not throw a festival for the people in the honour of let's say... Aset?"

Cleopatra jumped up and down. "That's a great idea."

She embraced the Pharaoh and whispered something in his ear.

The Pharaoh held his hands up and was about to turn his head into a no as Cleopatra slid her foot up his chest.

The Pharaoh looked at her foot in delight and nodded yes.

Cleopatra smiled brightly and kissed his forehead. She then returned to her seat.

She put her elbows on the table, her head leaned on her hands as she fluttered her eyelashes.

"You will help me organize everything, won't you?"