The Prince of Egypt: Half Breed

All I Ever Wanted

As she watched Tzipporah leave, she was startled out of her musing when a clay pot broke somewhere behind her. Turning around, Skylar saw the woman that gave Tzipporah water reaching down to pick up the pot and Moses.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I..." The woman stubbled over her words, picking up the pot but letting slip through her fingers again.

"Moses? Were you following me?" Skylar asked, slightly fearful he would punish her for letting Tzipporah escape.

"Oh, please forgive me. I... I didn't expect to see you here, of all places, at-at-at our door. Mmm, at last!" The woman stuttered, giddy for some reason Skylar couldn't understand.

Chuckling, Moses was confused by the woman's behavior. "At last?" He asked as he watched the woman eagerly shake her companion in excitement. Though, he did not share the woman's enthusiasm. Looking frightened.

"Didn't I tell you, Aaron? I knew he would return to us when he was ready." Woman told the man.

"Miriam, do you want us flogged?" The man now known as Aaron muttered.

"I knew you cared about our freedom." Miriam gushed.

"Miriam!" Aaron shouted at her in warning.

"Freedom? Why would I care about that?" Moses asked, perplexed.

Seeing this, Miriam was slightly puzzled. "Because you're... Well, you're our brother." She explained, as if it was obvious.

Hearing what she said, Aaron covered his face with his hand. Knowing this was all going to go down hill for them.

"What?" Moses asked.

"Brother?" Skylar asked, looking between the two.

Feeling something bad would happen, she tried to calmly explain things to the woman. "Miss Miriam. This man is Moses, the second son of the Pharaoh. Younger brother to prince regent Rameses... The newly appointed Chief Architect... You must be confused with someone else..."

"But..." Miriam started to say before she realizes he doesn't know who or what he was. Sighing, she looked at Moses "They never told you?"

"Who never told me what?" Moses asked, still perplexed and perhaps growing irritated with the entire conversation.

Considering Miriam's words, Skylar couldn't help wonder if there was any truth to what she was being told. "I heard a rumor..." She muttered aloud.

"But you're here. You must know." Miriam insisted as she reached out to touch Moses.

"Be careful, slave!" Moses told her as he backed away.

"Don't call her that! She has a name!" Skylar scolded him.

"Oh, my good prince." Aaron said, grabbing Miriam and tugging her away. "Um, she's- she's exhausted from the day's work. Uh, not that it was too much. We... We quite enjoyed it. But-but she's confused and knows not to whom she speaks." He insisted trying to salvage the situation, taking the route Skylar had provided.

Disgusted by her brother's cowardice, Miriam pulled away. "I know to whom I speak, Aaron! I know who you are. And you are not a prince of Egypt."

"Miriam." Aaron warned her.

Hearing these words, Moses grew livid. "What did you say?"

"Your Highness, pay her no heed." Aaron asked, as he stood before his sister, acting as a shield. "C-come, Miriam. May I discuss something with you?" He asked as he tried to drag Miriam back into the house.

Miriam resisted him as she tried to pull away from Aaron. "No, Aaron. No! Please, Moses, you must believe!"

"That's enough!" Aaron told her.

"You were born of my mother, Yocheved!" Miriam told Moses.

"Yocheved?" Skylar asked, feeling like she heard that name before.

"Stop it!" Aaron shouted as the two struggled.

"You are our brother!" Miriam insisted as she broke free from her brother's hold.

"Now you go too far! You shall be punished!" Moses declared.

"NO!" Skylar yelled.

"No! Please, uh, Your Highness." Aaron begged as he dropped to his knees. "She's ill. She's very ill. We beg your forgiveness. Please, Miriam, let us go."

"No, Aaron. Our mother set you adrift in a basket to save your life!" Miriam yelled as Aaron practically picked her up and was dragging her away.

"Save my life? From who?" Moses asked.

"Ask the man that you call 'Father!'" Miriam informed him.

Horrified, by her accusations, Moses grew angry. "How dare you?"

"Oh no..." Skylar gasped.

"God saved you to be our deliverer." Miriam insisted, Aaron putting her down outside their doorstep.

"Enough of this!" Moses shouted at her.

"And you are, Moses. You are the deliverer." Miriam declared, holding fast to her beliefs.

"I said, enough!" Moses shouted as he grabbed Miriam by the arm and threw her down.

Skylar blocked him from Miriam with her arms stretched out. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" She shouted, startling Moses, hardly ever seeing this side of Skylar. "You even try to hurt her more than she already is, and I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of you life." She promised with a hard stare.

Looking back at Miriam, "You will regret this night." Moses promised her as he walked away from both Skylar and Miriam, who cries softly.

Using her last shred of evidence to prove her words truth, Miriam began to sing. "Hush now, my baby, be still, love don't cry. Sleep as you're rocked by the stream."

Hearing this, Moses stopped. Skylar's eyes widening as she recognized the tune Moses had whistled that very same day before the banquet.

"Sleep and remember my last lullaby. So I'll be with you when you dream." Miriam continued.

Slowly, looking back at her, Moses' face was filled with emotions. Shock and confusion being chief among them.

As tears fell from Miriam's eyes, she smiled knowing she had reached her brother through the song.

Looking around wildly, Moses began to panic, rushing away from Miriam to get back to what he had always known, the familiar and away from the things he did not understand and feared.

"Moses!" Skylar cried out, rushing after the prince as she watched him run into an old man. Picking himself off the ground, others began to gather around.

"Did you see him? It's Moses." A man stated.

Causing Moses to flee.

Running through the alleys, Skylar tried to keep up with Moses. Seeing the palace, Moses' determination to reach it grew as he pressed onwards. Worried for her friend she watched him from afar. Wishing to give him some space.

Gleaming in the moonlight
Cool and clean and all I've ever known
All I ever wanted
Sweet perfumes of incense
And graceful rooms of alabaster stone
All I ever wanted

Pausing to hold onto one of the many columns, Moses caught his breath. Taking comfort in what was familiar to him.

This is my home
With my father, mother, brother
Oh so noble, oh so strong
Now I am home
Here among my trappings and belongings,
And if anybody doubts it
They couldn't be more wrong

Heading to his private chambers, he was welcomed by his pets. Happily appreciating their love.

I am a sovereign Prince of Egypt
A son of a proud history that's shown
Etched on every wall
Surely, this is all I ever wanted
All I ever wanted
All I ever wanted

Watching the prince fall asleep, Skylar assured herself he would be alright for now and left to go speak to someone that could help shed some light on Moses' situation for her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Reaching the slaves courters, Skylar found the man she was looking for. The others in the room already asleep.

"Psst. Psst! Father! Are you awake?" Skylar whispered.

"I am." He whispered back.

"I need to speak to you. Privately." She whispered back. Hearing some shuffling, it wasn't long until she felt her father's hand taking hers and leading her to a secluded part of the palace.

"What is it? Even a blind man can tell it is late." Her father asked.

"Forgive me for disturbing you. Please father, I need to know. Who was this woman named Yocheved." Skylar asked.

"Yocheved? Hm. That is a name I have not heard in a long time." Her father mused before explaining. "Before your birth, the Pharaoh feared that one day, our people would grow too numerous and overthrow him. To combat this, he ordered all the newborn Hebrew boys to be slaughtered. It is spoke among other slaves how one woman defied that order by putting her baby into a basket and set it afloat down the river. That woman was Yocheved. I do not know what happened to the babe afterwards. Probably eaten by crocodiles."

"Or maybe not." Skylar spoke, a contemplative look on her face, not that her father could see it. "What if he was here the whole time? Hiding right under the Pharaoh's nose?"

"Skylar?" Her father asked, confused as to what she was getting at.

"Thank you for telling me this. I better go and let you get some rest. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He replied before heading back and the two went their own separate ways.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

After her conversation with her father, Skylar headed back to Moses's room after getting a torch to light her way. Entering his darkened room, a part of her thought she should leave him to rest after such an eventful day. However, seeing he wasn't in bed, she looked around the room for him.

Finding him leaning against a small pillar, she could tell his dreams were troubling him as he fidgeted and shuffled in his sleep. Reaching out to wake him, she was startled when he gasped and woke up. Leaning against the pillar as he rubbed his face.

"Moses?" She called out tentatively. "Are you alright?"

Noticing her presence, he looked over at her, sighing he explained what he saw. Dreaming of the Pharaoh as he ordered the soldiers into the Hebrew settlement, taking all the baby boys and carrying them away from their mothers. He saw one woman and her two children carry one baby to the river and placing it in a basket just as Miriam had said. Then how the dream shifted, running from the soldiers and tossed into the Nile along with all the other Hebrew boys, the water turning red with their blood as the crocodiles devoured.

"It was no dream, it really happened. Well, except the part about you dying. Everything else you saw is true Moses. I know this because my father is Hebrew." Skylar revealed, causing Moses to gasp at her. "That's right, you've been friends with a mixed breed this whole time."

Even with her words, Moses couldn't believe something so horrible had happened. Taking her torch, Moses left in search of proof. Scouring the walls and hieroglyphs in search of the depiction of what he saw in his dream.

Running after him, Skylar tried to keep up, taking advantage of the moments he paused to scour the walls to try and catch her breath. Upon finding what he was looking for, the thing he hoped he would not find, Moses gasped at the image so frighteningly similar to that of his dream.

Denial coursing through him as he touched the wall, letting his arm holding the torch fall to his side and eventually dropping the torch all together. It couldn't be true... It just couldn't... Despair clawing it's way through his very soul as it robbed him of his strength, falling to his knees. Doubts of his heritage plaguing his mind. Miriam's and Skylar's words ringing true. His life was a lie... And only now was he learning it... Questions of why he was never told haunting him. Doubts of where he truly belonged.

All of these things crushing him under the weight of it all.

Drawing close to Moses, Skylar picked up the torch and held it aloft for him. Giving Moses a moment to compose himself.

Hearing someone coming, Skylar bowed seeing it was the Pharaoh.

Nodding to her, the Pharaoh focused on his son, placing a warm, calloused hand on Moses' head. In effort to calm and comfort his son as he spoke. His voice weary and regretful. "The Hebrews grew too numerous. They might have risen against us."

"Father, tell me you didn't do this." Moses begged as he turned to look at the Pharaoh.

"Moses, sometimes, for the greater good, sacrifices must be made." The Pharaoh explained, a haunted look flashing over his eyes as he looked at the mural.

Getting up, then putting a hand on one of the babies depicted on the wall, he turned to the Pharaoh with an incredulous look, "Sacrifices?" Moses asked, his breathing harsh and uneven as he tried to remain calm.

"Oh, my son." The Pharaoh stated, putting his arm around Moses and holding him tight as he had always done for his sons. Trying to comfort Moses and explain. "They were only slaves."

This wasn't the right thing to say to Moses however. Backing away, Moses shook his head, the man before him almost a stranger to him now that he knew the truth. Backing away into the darkness, Moses ran away. Leaving the Pharaoh confused.

"Only slaves?" Skylar scoffed. "You think they didn't feel sorrow when you killed them? That the poor mothers did not grieve when their children were ripped away from them? You've cursed yourself. I can see it in your eyes, how it haunts you, Pharaoh. Because of what you did, the Gods will not help you, your children or your children's children when you need them." She warned him.

"Goodnight." She said, bowing as she handed him the torch and left without another word, following her friend. Leaving the Pharaoh shocked and confused at both Moses' actions and Skylar's. Fear eating away at him as he feared a curse had been place upon him and his family by the servant. Drawing plans to be rid of her.