THE SERVANT OF HATSHEPSUT
Chapter Two "Here we go, Ancient Egypt. We are in the year 1470 B.C., so it is nine years into Hatshepsut's reign," the Doctor said, reading the monitor. "We are near the city of Memphis." He frowned in confusion. Rose noticed it. "What's wrong?" she said. "Memphis? Elvis was in Ancient Egypt?" he said to her with wide eyes. "Not that Memphis, you git!" Rose said, grinning. "Oh! Phew, for a moment I thought the king of Egypt was The King. Sorry, I'm old and senile sometimes," he said while Rose giggled. "Now…I was thinking that the best way to meet the queen is to pass ourselves off as servants looking for work and get hired at the palace." "Like in the parallel universe," Rose said. "Yes. That way we won't arouse suspicion while we observe. We will say that we're Greek. It's far enough away and exotic enough that most Egyptians will believe that we're from there. We obviously can't pass ourselves off as Egyptian. And Egyptians did use foreigners as servants. Do you want to do that?" Rose nodded. "Good. Come with me then and we'll change into some clothes more appropriate to this era." Rose dressed in a chiton, a long flowing dress made of linen. It was dark blue. The Doctor dressed in a white toga and both of them wore leather sandals. Rose put her hair up in a tight bun. The Doctor smiled when he saw her. "You look beautiful," he said, taking her hands. "Didn't you say that before; when we were gonna meet Charles Dickens?" Rose teased. "Then you corrected yourself and said, for an ape or something like that, yeah?" The Doctor snorted. He came close to her and gazed at her lovingly while he stroked her cheek. "I'm not like him," he said softly to her. "You're not a stupid ape." "Glad to hear it," Rose murmured as she gazed into his dark brown eyes. "Are you scared?" he murmured as he gazed at her. "No," Rose said, drinking in the beauty of his face. "Well, you should be. I'm Osiris. I'm very important so you must not make me angry," the Doctor said, cupping her face with his hands. "Wait, isn't Osiris the one that had the green face or something?" Rose said. "Yes, he did. I ate some bad dates the day they painted my portrait and the artist painted my face green and everyone copied it from there on out." "Yeah, right," Rose said while the Doctor grinned. "Pull the other one." "It's true. You'll see," the Doctor said. "I am Osiris, Lord of the Underworld…and Time, Lord of Time and the Underworld," he said quickly while Rose giggled. "Wow, you just own it all, dontcha?" Rose teased. The Doctor grinned and nodded vigorously before kissing her forehead gently. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX The Doctor opened the door and stepped outside into the sandy Sahara. "Ooo-eee, it's a tad warm today," he said as he glanced up at the blazing sun. "Makes me miss the cool climate of our native Greece." "If you're Greek, how can you be Osiris?" Rose said, stepping out behind him and closing the door. "I'm Greek Osiris and I rule the Underworld!" the Doctor crowed. "And time," Rose said. "Yes, yes, all of that," the Doctor said, waving his hand dismissively while Rose giggled. "Where are we, Athena? That's your name. Athena," the Doctor said when Rose gave him a blank look. "You're named for the goddess of wisdom so quit acting stupid." "Whatever you say, Zeus," Rose said. "No, not Zeus. I am Apollon," the Doctor said. "I thought you were Osiris," Rose said. She laughed when the Doctor picked up a handful of sand and threw it at her while she ran away. She grabbed a handful of sand and tossed it back at him. The Doctor dodged it and stuck his tongue out while she laughed. "Don't muck with Osiris!" the Doctor said to her. "I thought you were Apollon," Rose said. "I'm both. But right now I am Osiris and my wrath is formidable so beware!" "Yeah, I'm just completely terrified," Rose said dryly. The Doctor grinned. He leaned down, built up a small hill of sand and poked a few holes in it. "My sand castle, like it?" he said, leaning back up and pointing down to it. Rose giggled. She ran forward and the Doctor feigned anger when she kicked it, sending the sand up into the blowing wind. "I built that," the Doctor said while Rose stuck out her tongue and ran away from them. "I just spent a considerable amount of time building that and your ape foot ruined it! I will mummify you for that, Athena!" "Still not frightened," Rose teased as she stayed about ten feet away from him. "You will be," the Doctor said, imitating Yoda. "You will be." "Mm," Rose said. "Look, across the Nile," she said, pointing off to her left at the city of Memphis." "I won't look until you tell me you're afraid of me," the Doctor said. "I wonder how you get across?" Rose mused, deliberately ignoring him as she walked towards the riverbank. "I'm not used to insouciance, Athena!" the Doctor yelled at her while Rose giggled and kept walking towards the riverbank. "I will not be ignored! I will be feared!" "Hey, Lord of the Underworld, how do we get across the bleedin' river to the city?" Rose yelled back. "We use the wind from your enormous gob to propel us across, that's how!" the Doctor yelled back. "Ooo, that was low," Rose said while the Doctor sniggered. "Why don't we use the wind from your enormous bum instead, there's far more of it and it's much more powerful!" She laughed when the Doctor turned around, bent over and pointed to his ass for a moment before straightening up and walking towards her. "Insouciance, that's all it is, insouciance," he said to her while he walked towards her. "Yeah, yeah, throw out more big words, maybe someday it'll actually help you sound intelligent," Rose said. The Doctor came up beside her, stopped and gazed across the river to the huge city of Memphis. The buildings were all made of mud brick and some of them were painted with bright colors and designs. There were statues, obelisks and several large buildings near the center of the city. Here on the outskirts, there were a few women getting water from the Nile for use in their houses. One of the women noticed them as she was getting water about fifty feet away. She called to them to wait before she carried the clay pot into the house about twenty feet from the riverbank. She then walked down until she was across the river from them. "Do you need assistance?" she yelled to them. "Yes, we need to get across. Do you know a way?" the Doctor called back. "Yes, my husband has a boat, wait here," she said before turning and running back to her house. She returned several minutes later, dragging a small skiff boat made of reeds. She dragged it to the waterbank and shoved it in. She got in as the boat was floating away and picked up a long pole that was inside the skiff. She used it to maneuver the boat towards the Doctor and Rose. "Thank you," the Doctor said when she reached them and he pulled the bow up onto the bank. "You're welcome. You just arrived here?" she said to them. "We did. We're looking for work," the Doctor said. "I'm Apollon and this is Athena." "Nefer," she said, nodding. "Come inside and I'll take you to my home." "Again, thank you," the Doctor said. Nefer waited till they were inside and the three of them stood in the boat while she propelled it back across the lake.
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