Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » A physician and a bodyguard walked into.. (1x1)

Rani-Shukura lived in ancient Egypt, land of beautiful piramidd, adored Gods and powerfull Pharao's. As the bodyguard of the Pharao, she was the youngest female guard to ever be promoted to be by his majesties side. After her father died protecting him, she did everything to be as great as him. Knowing she still had a long way to go, she worked hard and tried to fill his shoes. Not only did she wanna make her father proud, she also had a family to feed. Her grandmother and brother to be exact. Her mother died after giving birth to Ro (Blue), her brother of 6 and her grandmother Omari, took them in. With Rani working in the palace, she was able to give them a good life. Oh how she missed them when she worked in the palace. Every couple of months, she returned to her village and spend quality time with them and her friends.

Rani lived in two different worlds and she had two different personalities to match. At home, she was fun, caring and playfull. Her brother was her whole world and the only one who could make her open up. Ofcourse she had friends but with a job like her and her fathers, she learned to not trust to many people. In the palace, Rani was very serious, responsible and she saw and knew everything that happend. If people from her village ever saw her in the palace, they wouldn't recognize and vice versa. Keeping everything seperated was just part of keeping it professional.

It was a very sunny day as usual and Rani walked into the throneroom where the Pharao was already seated. Silently she nodded and walked to the right side of his chair. She crossed her left arm behind her back and grabbed the back of her right arm, which was holding a big spear. Her eyes went over the room, scanning every tiny detail. She didn't say much, especially when in company of his majesty.

The palace was even grander than Ahmose had imagined. The whole city, in fact, was grander than anything he'd ever seen growing up. His dark blue eyes darted this way and that, trying to take in every detail of the high ceilings, the rich fabrics, the intricate hieroglyphs. If father could see me now...

"Halt!"

Taking his eyes off of a passing group of ladies in waiting, Ahmose jerked his head toward the voice so quickly he heard a small crack in his neck. Two very imposing men approached him quickly, both of them gripping spears.

"State your business," said the larger of the two in a gruff voice.

"Just thought I'd have a look around," Ahmose said with a grin.

The men did not seem amused. The smaller man - the one who hadn't spoken yet - seized his left arm.

"Out," he said firmly. "This is no place for peasants."

"No, wait!" Ahmose wrenched his arm back and hurriedly rummaged through his bag, extracting his letter of employment and presenting it to the guards. "Sorry, I'm here for a job - I'm a physician."

Looking skeptical, the larger man snatched the letter and skimmed through it. His eyes narrowed.

"Ahmose Ra'Amar?" he said, looking up. "Menes was your father?"

"Yeah."

He thrust the letter back into Ahmose's hands. "You'll find the physician's quarters down that hall," he said, indicating over his shoulder with a fat thumb. "Keep those papers out in case anyone else stops you."

The two men turned their backs on him and headed back to their posts. Ahmose raised his eyebrows, then walked on.

Nothing was going on that day. People came and went. A couple of nutcases stopped by saying the world was going to end but all in all, that happend everyday. Everytime someone needed to speak with the Pharao, she checked them for weapons and stayed close. Most men scuffed at the sight of Rani but if they tried anything, they immediatly showed the respect she deserved.

Rani watched and stood for a couple of hours when she heard the Pharao cough for a while. Normally it wouldn't have bothered her but she had heard him cough multiple times that day. Something wasn't right. She looked over at him, subtly and observed his face. He looked paler than usual and she noticed sweatdrops on his forehead. Softly she walked a little closer towards him. "Your Majesty? Are you alright?" she asked softly, eyes towards the ground while bowing.

Ahmose wasn't that concerned about getting to his destination quickly. Instead, he took the opportunity to take in the splendor of the palace, resisting the urge to explore and peek his head in to closed rooms. A few people passed, but all of them seemed to be in too much of a hurry to pay him much mind.

That was, until he walked straight into an elderly man. Ahmose had been staring at a particularly intricate hieroglyph as he walked and hadn't heard the other man's quick footsteps coming towards him. The pair fell to the ground, a dozen rolls of papyrus scattering across the hall with a clatter as they tumbled from the old man's arms.

"Watch where you're going!" he squawked, staring reproachfully at Ahmose.

"Sorry," Ahmose chuckled, unable to resist the urge to laugh. "Here, let me help -"

The man swatted Ahmose's hand - which was reaching for one of the fallen scrolls - hard with his cane. "Keep your hands to yourself, Boy! These are royal documents!"

Ahmose raised his hands in a mock surrender as he got to his feet. The old man shot him another glare before scurrying around on the floor, recovering his belongings. Ahmose stepped over him and continued down the hall.

"Ahmose Ra'Amar?"

He turned at the sound of his name. The man was standing now, most of the scrolls back in his arms, holding Ahmose's letter of employment in front of him. He must have dropped it when they fell.

"Yeah, that's me," he said, reaching his hand out to take the letter.

A grin formed in the corners of the man's lips. Without warning, he thrust everything in his arms towards Ahmose, who, taken off guard, didn't quite manage to get a hold of all of the scrolls.

"Pick up the rest of these," the man said, his grin growing ever broader. "You're my new assistant."

The Pharao coughed again, this time not stopping for a while and he looked at her. "I don't know what's going on. I've been feeling strange for the last couple of days." As he said that, his wife came in with the kids. One look at her husband and she let go of her 4 year old to let him walk by himself. "My darling, you don't seem well." She walked up to him and took his face in her hands. Rani quickly bowed her face to the ground at the sight of the intimacy between the two lovers. While the Queen felt his face and looked at him, her boys were running around playing. When the younger one of 4 years noticed Rani he ran towards her, his older brother of 7 followed not so long after.

"Is that a real sword?" The little one asked and Rani went down on one knee and nodded. "Yes, it is your highness." His face lit up and he smiled at her. "Mommy, I want what the lady has." He yelled. His mother turned and smiled. "Okay, boys. I think it's time to go play with the maids." The two ladies who were waiting outside came in and got the two playing children. As the oldest went along willingly, the younger one sighed and gave Rani a sad look. "Ouhn but I wanna stay with the pretty sword lady." His mother gave him one sturn look and he ran quicker than a lion to the other maid who was still waiting for him.

She couldn't help but smile at how cute he was. He reminded her so much of her little brother. The Pharao's wife bursted her bubble and once that happend, her serious face came back. "I need you to get the physician, now!" With that sharp voice, Rani nodded and ran through the entrance. This wasn't good. His wife had a special talent for knowing when something was wrong. This was also the reason that the Pharao, who had an advisor, always went to his wife.

Ahmose hurried to gather the scrolls, because the man wasn't waiting for him - he had already started walking down the hall in the direction Ahmose had come from. He wasn't exactly fast - he was walking with a cane, after all - but he wasn't taking his time, either. Once Ahmose had picked up every roll of papyrus, he hurried after the little man, catching up to him just as he turned into a corridor to the right.

"You're primary job," he said as they walked, "will be to run errands for me. Gathering herbs, retrieving scrolls from the library, purchasing supplies in the marketplace. If you prove yourself to be reliable -"

"Don't you think I'm a little overqualified to be running errands?" Ahmose interrupted, his voice breaking into the slightest laugh.

The old man stopped walking and turned to face Ahmose. His frown lines seemed to have deepened. "Your father may have been a celebrated physician, Ra'Amar, but your talents remain, as yet, untested."

"You didn't hire me because of who my father was," Ahmose said, feeling a twinge defensive. "You hired me because I succeeded in stopping the plague that began in my town from spreading."

"So I was told," the physician said, a hint of danger in his tone. "But I did not see it. Besides, you did not succeed in curing said plague, only in stopping it."

"Well, we can't all be my father," Ahmose snapped. The bitterness in his voice shocked him.

Rani hurried through the hallways, looking for the physician. He wasn't an easy man to find. While running through the hallways, her eyes scanned everything quickly. When she finally found him, she almost ran into the boy holding the scrolls. Her quick reflexes catched the ones that fell and she handed them back to the boy, not looking at the person holding the scrolls. Instead she directly went to the physician and gave him a nod. Her face was more serious then normal and that normally showed everyone around her how serious the problem was.

"It's very urgent. I need you to come with me, now." She said and waited for him to drop whatever he was doing. Her eyes staying on the doctor the whole time, focused and only giving attention to what was important at that moment. She hadn't noticed the young man, neither did she look around.

Ahmose recognized the girl at once. He wasn't entirely sure where he knew her from, but he was certain they'd met before. How could he possibly have forgotten that head of bright red hair?

"Do I know you?" he asked, talking over her urgent message to the physician and taking a step towards her.

The old man didn't seem to have noticed Ahmose's remark, or else he chose to ignore it, because he nodded back at Rani immediately, his expression mirroring hers. "Lead the way," he said.

It was then that she finally saw the young man but decided to still ignore him. She didn't have time to have smalltalk. She just gave him a look and turned to face the other way again, leading the physician to the Pharao. They ran through the hallways. Everyone moved out of the way once they saw her run because they knew that when she ran, it was something serious. People looked worried and they were right to be. Rani didn't have a good feeling about this.

When they arrived, the queen was sitting on her knees, crying over the Pharao. He ws lying down on the ground, barely conscious. Rani ran towards the Queen and comforted her so that the physician could do his job. How was she supposed to comfort the Queen? She wasn't used to showing any emotion other then selfcontrol, not at her job anyway. It wasn't in her jobdescription. Rani wasn't a heartless person but she did have a difficult time switching her personality when at work. She had made a rule to always stay professional and stay cool. "It'll be okay, your Majesty. Panicking won't help at this point." She said calmly to the Queen but she started crying on her shoulder so she let her guard down for a minute and hugged her, rubbing her shoulder with one hand. "We will find out what's wrong, don't worry."

Ahmose followed them through the halls, stopping just inside of the throne room to gape at its splendor. The physician did not stop, however - he ran straight to the pharaoh and began to inspect him.

Ahmose took his eyes off of the gilded ceiling to look at the scene before him. He couldn't see the pharaoh well from where he was, but he could tell it wasn't good. The queen was sobbing into the red-head's shoulder, and the bodyguard wasn't doing the best job of comforting her. Ahmose frowned slightly to himself. He knew it would be a little out of line for him to approach, but if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't all that concerned. He knew he'd be able to help calm the queen down, so he approached.

When he was standing over them, he sent her a weak smile. "Excuse me, Your Majesty -"

But then he stopped. He was now much closer to the pharaoh, and had caught a glimpse of his arm. The veins were extremely visible, and his fingers were shaking. As he watched, the pharaoh coughed feebly.

Panicking, Ahmose immediately knelt on the ground next to the physician, who looked totally bewildered. The physician turned to him, evidently about to tell him to get something from his stores, but Ahmose was already pulling something out of his bag - a small vial of liquid.

"Open his mouth," Ahmose said. It did not sound like a request.

The physician stared at him. "If you think you're going to give me orders -"

"If you don't open his mouth now, he will die!" Ahmose said earnestly.

Rani kept holding the Queen as she kept crying. When the young man pulled out the vial, she got her guard back up. As she observed his face, she tried to figure out what was happening. The Queen stopped sobbing but didn't say anything, she figured that the physician knew what he was doing and that he would give permittion. But for some reason, Rani trusted the guy and his judgement. "Do it." She said soft. The physician gave her a very insulted look. She let go of the Queen and walked closer. He tried to talk back "Excuse m-" But she shushed him with only a look. "I said..." She said calm. "DO.IT." Her voice was sharp and sturn and her face equally as sharp and serious. She wasn't going to take no for an answer and she let him know without saying anything more.

She looked at the young man and nodded at him, giving him a very subtle smile, showing she appreciated it. While taking control, she felt the Queen softly squeeze her hand and she nodded too even if it was barely visible. At this point Rani didn't care that she might have been out of line and it didn't seem to bother the Queen either.

Ahmose nodded at Rani with gratitude, but couldn't bring himself to smile, which was a rare occurrence. The physician was scowling, but he also looked scared. He obviously had no idea what was wrong with the pharaoh, and he could tell His Majesty was close to death. Ahmose had just decided that he would just do it himself when the physician leaned over the pharaoh and forced his mouth open. Ahmose rushed forward and poured the whole vial into the pharaoh's mouth, then holding his mouth and nose closed to force the pharaoh to swallow.

It was a tense moment. Finally, the pharaoh swallowed. Ahmose immediately released him and he began coughing, more forcefully this time. His arm had stopped shaking, but his eyes were still closed, and he was obviously very weak. The veins on his arm were just as visible as before.

Ahmose sighed in relief and stood, rubbing the back of his neck as he always did when he was thinking. We need to keep everyone out, he though, feeling his heart start to race. Keep him isolated.

The three other people in the room were still looking at the pharaoh with concern in their eyes. But Ahmose, rather than returning to his patient, strode to the end of the room and shut the doors, unintentionally making a loud crash.

Rani watched while he forced the Pharao's mouth open and fed him the potion. The queen was still shaking and sobbing softly. She was holding the Pharao's hand and squeezed it every now and then while saying stuff like "You'll be okay honey. We are all taking care of you. Don't you dare leave me." It was really heartbreaking and touching to see the love she felt for the Pharao, knowing that the marriage was arranged. Rani remembered her father telling her how they both hated each other in the beginning and how they couldn't be in one room until he locked them up (afterwards he told them it was an accident which was anything but true) and made them talk. After that event they couldn't be without each other anymore, beautiful as it was it was also a miracle. The Pharao found out about what her father did after he died (saving him) and he told Rani that there was so much that he didn't know off to be greatfull for towards her father.

She looked up when she heard the loud crash and frowned. She walked towards him and talked quietly so that noone else would hear. "What do you think you are doing?" If there was something she needed to know then he needed to tell her so she could help or take control of the situation.

Ahmose's gaze drifted towards the three other people in the room warily. He didn't want to alarm anyone - and he would much rather be making small talk with the girl and figuring out where he knew her from - but this was urgent.

He turned to her and spoke in a barely audible whisper. "Anyone who's had any contact with the pharaoh since he started coughing needs to be brought here at once. No one is to leave this room for any reason - no one but me. If they do -"

But he cut himself off. He didn't know how long the pharaoh had been showing symptoms, nor how many people he'd seen today, or where they had gone afterwards. They could already be out in the city, infecting the rest of the land -

He let out a frustrated sigh that sounded more like a grunt and rubbed his neck again. His boyish, carefree air was gone for the moment. Anger, stress, and something else - panic? - had replaced it.

This was much worse than his small town. They could try to contain it, but it was going to be much harder. No, he had to finish the job - he had to find the cure.

He went through all these thoughts rapidly fast, so quickly that the bodyguard didn't have time to respond to his order to round up subjects before he was speaking again, his voice a harsh whisper. "Listen, that potion only delayed his symptoms. It's going to get worse. Much worse. And if we don't - if I don't - find a cure, His Majesty will be dead by the end of the week."

His arm dropped back to his side as he examined the expression on the girl's face, waiting for her to respond.

Rani looked confused and annoyed at the same time. "What are you talking about? You can't just make decisions like that." And she looked back at the queen and Pharao. "We can't just evacuate everyone. First of all, it will only end in chaos because we will have to tell them what's wrong. Second, we can't scare the people. People do crazy things when they are scared." She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from the group so that they could talk. "And what the hell do you mean by -no one but me-." This was ridiculous. "You better start explaining yourself, right now." Her voice got sharp again like before and again, she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Ahmose had folded his arms and was drumming his fingers impatiently. Though he usually did not get annoyed with people asking for medical explanations - well, he usually didn't get annoyed with people, period - this situation was different. She'd trusted him so readily before, so it was a bit frustrating that she'd suddenly become skeptical. Then again, the situation probably didn't seem as dire to her as it did to him - she hadn't seen what this plague could do.

"I've seen these symptoms before," he said with a head nod in the pharaoh's direction. "It's the beginning of a very deadly, very fast-moving plague, one that has no known cure. The reason I'm the only one who can do anything about it is because, for some reason I haven't been able to discover, I'm immune. Also, I'm the only physician alive who's ever faced it before."

His eyes darted over to the pharaoh's physician, still bent over his patient. How long would it be before the man started showing symptoms himself?

Rani nodded and looked him in the eyes. "I get that we have to move fast but think of the people. We can't cause a crisis even if this is one. We need to think twice about this and at this point if you tell them about a deadly desease, they will freak out. So the only thing you can do is trust me to handle this correctly without any cassualties. Oke?" She didn't let go of the eyecontact for a while to let him know how serious she took this situation. Yeah, Rani was scared too because she was also infected but the others weren't capable of handling this situation in a correct way so she had to be strong for the whole population. If she had to be honest with herself, the only thing she wanted to do was go home and take care of her grandmother and brother. And maybe even cry out on her grandmothers shoulder.

"Okay, what you need to do now, is tell me everything in detail. I need you to include me in everything you are going to do or know. It doesn't matter how horrible it is, I need to know to then know what to do. You will have to trust me. Can you do that?" She asked soft and looked intense in his eyes.