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Even as the months crawled blissfully closer to the cooler months of winter, the desert sands that made up Egypt were still just as crisp and scalding as the summer months. The cloth tents that housed the soldiers offered little true shade and even the high ranking officers found it rather impractical to have others follow them with fans in order to beat the heat. Maybe this method may have worked back in Cairo or Thebes within the cool shade of the mud bricks that made up the wealthier homes, but here it only felt as if you were inviting a sandstorm to hit you square in the chest. Add the inescapable heat with all the other minor inconveniences that came with being so far away from home, possibly days away from descending to Anubis, and it was clear why all the men were so miserable another day of hard work ended.
Sutekh was no exception to this as the harsh sun began to sink over nearby dunes, allowing for a cool twilight to rush over the camp. Even though the young man had the rank of Deputy General, it was more of an honorary role more than anything. The rank was less of a recognition of the man’s talents and more of an excuse for the Pharaoh to have the only possible rival claimant to the throne be on the front lines and hopefully take a hoplite’s spear to the neck. It was a bit ridiculous given that Sutekh could not even inherit anything of his father’s estate due to his bastard blood -- but it had also been an accepted truth that a titleless man could not ascend to royal godhood either, but here they all were. Needless to say, Sutekh was only here for a single purpose and it wasn’t as if the Pharaoh was hiding it from the boy. The other Deputy Generals in Naddar Harakat received a far longer list of duties than Sutekh and the few snippets of information he knew about the battle had come from General Oso and his second-in-command Abrax.
It was absolutely infuriating that Sutekh had to jump through hoops and confer with men in an entirely different unit to figure out what the hell they were all going to do with this war. Though there wasn’t anything that the boy could really do. He was not blind to the fact that the Pharaoh wanted him to die and there was no point in putting the dead man walking to use. If he complained, he would seem power-hungry and greedy. If he questioned it, he would be told that his treatment was because he had a place of honor as the Queen’s brother. No matter what he did, he was put into an awkward position and he would gain absolutely nothing. The Bastard Prince just had to accept these cards he had been dealt and just bide his time. He knew that if he could just survive for long enough there would come a moment where he would get to prove that he just wasn’t some sort of lamb to the slaughter.
He was lucky though that he had found himself some allies in the General and his Second. They might have been from another unit, but they had been rather gracious to the young man who was in a tricky spot. Granted, he was nowhere near comfortable enough to directly express his fears and frustrations, but Sutekh knew that if he wanted to escape the ever-looming promise of a rapidly approaching, gruesome death in the next few weeks, he could turn to those two for a short while. It didn’t matter if they offered fun or just more work for the Prince to do as Oso poured over battle plans. They made him feel included and unwittingly reassured him there was at least somewhere in this damn camp that he wasn’t put on some sort of pedestal or regarded as some sacrificial lamb being prepped for slaughter. Whether the other men realized it or not, they offer Sutekh a sense of safety, and given how turbulent the last few months of his life had been, he was not willing to let that go.
That was why when the twilight settled over the camp and the air finally began to cool, Sutekh found himself walking down the familiar path that separated the camps of the Naddar and Moghadam barracks. The familiar caterwaul of the soldiers filled his ears, echoing through the camps as the lower-ranking men were relieved from their training for the day. It seemed to be that there were small celebrations breaking out among the litany of tents, but Sutekh did not have the faintest clue what they could be hollering about. It was all unintelligible to him. Not that it really mattered anyway as Sutekh was not going to join them. If anything it was all just background noise to him.
However as he drew closer to the group of officer’s tents that he was more familiar with, he could see Abrax standing outside one of the cloth structures, watching one group of revelers rather intently. Drawing closer, the Bastard prince followed his fellow Deputy-General’s gaze and saw that he was watching some of the charioteers racing through the sands. Although this sort of activity was supposed to be frowned upon because it could ruin the equipment, there was an unspoken rule that they could be done as a method of practice if you were careful about it. These men were not. As Sutekh quietly announced his presence to Abrax as he came to stand next to the other man, the former Sheifa heir could see that whoever was driving those chariots had done a bit of pre-gaming, to say the least. The chariot swerved wildly, first to the left, and then to the right in big arches that extended beyond just sheer carelessness. They were all drunk off their asses.
Sutekh quietly shook his head at the sight, muttering under his breath, “Really? Ra almighty the whole lot of them are idiots.” He made no attempt to hide his words from Abrax, though. There was no point when he thought that the man next to him was thinking the same thing. After all, as high ranking officers, the two of them were supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening and stop it when it did… but Sutekh was not exactly thrilled about the prospect of needing to march over there and order them to break it up. It brushed too close to his newfound power as a Prince, something that folks seemed to think that they could either choose or choose not to listen to thanks to the Bastard prefix attached to his name. Drunkards were even worse as they respected no authority other than the one who was giving them their beer. It was not an exciting prospect to say the least.
However, as the more inexperienced Deputy General glanced around, Sutekh noticed that even though there were supposed to be quite a few other high-ranking officers lingering around, the two of them were the only ones present. All the others were likely caught up in some other duties and who knew how long that would take, leaving the two men on their own to deal with this… if they wanted to deal with this, of course.
A small smile crossed his face as a brilliant idea crept into mind as he continued to watch the drunk charioteers. Given the situation, if Sutekh and Abrax decided to join them, there would be quite literally no one around to stop them. Not that they would anyhow. Sutekh had no doubts that each of their high ranking roles would shield them from trouble if they were caught joining in on the fun. It had been such a long, tiresome day filled with boring tasks, after all. The two men deserved to go and unwind for a moment, have a little fun, didn’t they?
“What do you say we go over there and show them how it’s really done?” Sutekh suggested with a sly look on his face as he turned to Abrax. He didn’t know if the man would be okay with bending the rules for a little bit, but surely the prospect of a chariot race was far more interesting than just standing around here waiting for something to happen. It would only take a few minutes, after all. No one would miss them. All Abrax had to do was say that he was on board and this boring hot day would take a thrilling turn after all…
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This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
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Even as the months crawled blissfully closer to the cooler months of winter, the desert sands that made up Egypt were still just as crisp and scalding as the summer months. The cloth tents that housed the soldiers offered little true shade and even the high ranking officers found it rather impractical to have others follow them with fans in order to beat the heat. Maybe this method may have worked back in Cairo or Thebes within the cool shade of the mud bricks that made up the wealthier homes, but here it only felt as if you were inviting a sandstorm to hit you square in the chest. Add the inescapable heat with all the other minor inconveniences that came with being so far away from home, possibly days away from descending to Anubis, and it was clear why all the men were so miserable another day of hard work ended.
Sutekh was no exception to this as the harsh sun began to sink over nearby dunes, allowing for a cool twilight to rush over the camp. Even though the young man had the rank of Deputy General, it was more of an honorary role more than anything. The rank was less of a recognition of the man’s talents and more of an excuse for the Pharaoh to have the only possible rival claimant to the throne be on the front lines and hopefully take a hoplite’s spear to the neck. It was a bit ridiculous given that Sutekh could not even inherit anything of his father’s estate due to his bastard blood -- but it had also been an accepted truth that a titleless man could not ascend to royal godhood either, but here they all were. Needless to say, Sutekh was only here for a single purpose and it wasn’t as if the Pharaoh was hiding it from the boy. The other Deputy Generals in Naddar Harakat received a far longer list of duties than Sutekh and the few snippets of information he knew about the battle had come from General Oso and his second-in-command Abrax.
It was absolutely infuriating that Sutekh had to jump through hoops and confer with men in an entirely different unit to figure out what the hell they were all going to do with this war. Though there wasn’t anything that the boy could really do. He was not blind to the fact that the Pharaoh wanted him to die and there was no point in putting the dead man walking to use. If he complained, he would seem power-hungry and greedy. If he questioned it, he would be told that his treatment was because he had a place of honor as the Queen’s brother. No matter what he did, he was put into an awkward position and he would gain absolutely nothing. The Bastard Prince just had to accept these cards he had been dealt and just bide his time. He knew that if he could just survive for long enough there would come a moment where he would get to prove that he just wasn’t some sort of lamb to the slaughter.
He was lucky though that he had found himself some allies in the General and his Second. They might have been from another unit, but they had been rather gracious to the young man who was in a tricky spot. Granted, he was nowhere near comfortable enough to directly express his fears and frustrations, but Sutekh knew that if he wanted to escape the ever-looming promise of a rapidly approaching, gruesome death in the next few weeks, he could turn to those two for a short while. It didn’t matter if they offered fun or just more work for the Prince to do as Oso poured over battle plans. They made him feel included and unwittingly reassured him there was at least somewhere in this damn camp that he wasn’t put on some sort of pedestal or regarded as some sacrificial lamb being prepped for slaughter. Whether the other men realized it or not, they offer Sutekh a sense of safety, and given how turbulent the last few months of his life had been, he was not willing to let that go.
That was why when the twilight settled over the camp and the air finally began to cool, Sutekh found himself walking down the familiar path that separated the camps of the Naddar and Moghadam barracks. The familiar caterwaul of the soldiers filled his ears, echoing through the camps as the lower-ranking men were relieved from their training for the day. It seemed to be that there were small celebrations breaking out among the litany of tents, but Sutekh did not have the faintest clue what they could be hollering about. It was all unintelligible to him. Not that it really mattered anyway as Sutekh was not going to join them. If anything it was all just background noise to him.
However as he drew closer to the group of officer’s tents that he was more familiar with, he could see Abrax standing outside one of the cloth structures, watching one group of revelers rather intently. Drawing closer, the Bastard prince followed his fellow Deputy-General’s gaze and saw that he was watching some of the charioteers racing through the sands. Although this sort of activity was supposed to be frowned upon because it could ruin the equipment, there was an unspoken rule that they could be done as a method of practice if you were careful about it. These men were not. As Sutekh quietly announced his presence to Abrax as he came to stand next to the other man, the former Sheifa heir could see that whoever was driving those chariots had done a bit of pre-gaming, to say the least. The chariot swerved wildly, first to the left, and then to the right in big arches that extended beyond just sheer carelessness. They were all drunk off their asses.
Sutekh quietly shook his head at the sight, muttering under his breath, “Really? Ra almighty the whole lot of them are idiots.” He made no attempt to hide his words from Abrax, though. There was no point when he thought that the man next to him was thinking the same thing. After all, as high ranking officers, the two of them were supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening and stop it when it did… but Sutekh was not exactly thrilled about the prospect of needing to march over there and order them to break it up. It brushed too close to his newfound power as a Prince, something that folks seemed to think that they could either choose or choose not to listen to thanks to the Bastard prefix attached to his name. Drunkards were even worse as they respected no authority other than the one who was giving them their beer. It was not an exciting prospect to say the least.
However, as the more inexperienced Deputy General glanced around, Sutekh noticed that even though there were supposed to be quite a few other high-ranking officers lingering around, the two of them were the only ones present. All the others were likely caught up in some other duties and who knew how long that would take, leaving the two men on their own to deal with this… if they wanted to deal with this, of course.
A small smile crossed his face as a brilliant idea crept into mind as he continued to watch the drunk charioteers. Given the situation, if Sutekh and Abrax decided to join them, there would be quite literally no one around to stop them. Not that they would anyhow. Sutekh had no doubts that each of their high ranking roles would shield them from trouble if they were caught joining in on the fun. It had been such a long, tiresome day filled with boring tasks, after all. The two men deserved to go and unwind for a moment, have a little fun, didn’t they?
“What do you say we go over there and show them how it’s really done?” Sutekh suggested with a sly look on his face as he turned to Abrax. He didn’t know if the man would be okay with bending the rules for a little bit, but surely the prospect of a chariot race was far more interesting than just standing around here waiting for something to happen. It would only take a few minutes, after all. No one would miss them. All Abrax had to do was say that he was on board and this boring hot day would take a thrilling turn after all…
Even as the months crawled blissfully closer to the cooler months of winter, the desert sands that made up Egypt were still just as crisp and scalding as the summer months. The cloth tents that housed the soldiers offered little true shade and even the high ranking officers found it rather impractical to have others follow them with fans in order to beat the heat. Maybe this method may have worked back in Cairo or Thebes within the cool shade of the mud bricks that made up the wealthier homes, but here it only felt as if you were inviting a sandstorm to hit you square in the chest. Add the inescapable heat with all the other minor inconveniences that came with being so far away from home, possibly days away from descending to Anubis, and it was clear why all the men were so miserable another day of hard work ended.
Sutekh was no exception to this as the harsh sun began to sink over nearby dunes, allowing for a cool twilight to rush over the camp. Even though the young man had the rank of Deputy General, it was more of an honorary role more than anything. The rank was less of a recognition of the man’s talents and more of an excuse for the Pharaoh to have the only possible rival claimant to the throne be on the front lines and hopefully take a hoplite’s spear to the neck. It was a bit ridiculous given that Sutekh could not even inherit anything of his father’s estate due to his bastard blood -- but it had also been an accepted truth that a titleless man could not ascend to royal godhood either, but here they all were. Needless to say, Sutekh was only here for a single purpose and it wasn’t as if the Pharaoh was hiding it from the boy. The other Deputy Generals in Naddar Harakat received a far longer list of duties than Sutekh and the few snippets of information he knew about the battle had come from General Oso and his second-in-command Abrax.
It was absolutely infuriating that Sutekh had to jump through hoops and confer with men in an entirely different unit to figure out what the hell they were all going to do with this war. Though there wasn’t anything that the boy could really do. He was not blind to the fact that the Pharaoh wanted him to die and there was no point in putting the dead man walking to use. If he complained, he would seem power-hungry and greedy. If he questioned it, he would be told that his treatment was because he had a place of honor as the Queen’s brother. No matter what he did, he was put into an awkward position and he would gain absolutely nothing. The Bastard Prince just had to accept these cards he had been dealt and just bide his time. He knew that if he could just survive for long enough there would come a moment where he would get to prove that he just wasn’t some sort of lamb to the slaughter.
He was lucky though that he had found himself some allies in the General and his Second. They might have been from another unit, but they had been rather gracious to the young man who was in a tricky spot. Granted, he was nowhere near comfortable enough to directly express his fears and frustrations, but Sutekh knew that if he wanted to escape the ever-looming promise of a rapidly approaching, gruesome death in the next few weeks, he could turn to those two for a short while. It didn’t matter if they offered fun or just more work for the Prince to do as Oso poured over battle plans. They made him feel included and unwittingly reassured him there was at least somewhere in this damn camp that he wasn’t put on some sort of pedestal or regarded as some sacrificial lamb being prepped for slaughter. Whether the other men realized it or not, they offer Sutekh a sense of safety, and given how turbulent the last few months of his life had been, he was not willing to let that go.
That was why when the twilight settled over the camp and the air finally began to cool, Sutekh found himself walking down the familiar path that separated the camps of the Naddar and Moghadam barracks. The familiar caterwaul of the soldiers filled his ears, echoing through the camps as the lower-ranking men were relieved from their training for the day. It seemed to be that there were small celebrations breaking out among the litany of tents, but Sutekh did not have the faintest clue what they could be hollering about. It was all unintelligible to him. Not that it really mattered anyway as Sutekh was not going to join them. If anything it was all just background noise to him.
However as he drew closer to the group of officer’s tents that he was more familiar with, he could see Abrax standing outside one of the cloth structures, watching one group of revelers rather intently. Drawing closer, the Bastard prince followed his fellow Deputy-General’s gaze and saw that he was watching some of the charioteers racing through the sands. Although this sort of activity was supposed to be frowned upon because it could ruin the equipment, there was an unspoken rule that they could be done as a method of practice if you were careful about it. These men were not. As Sutekh quietly announced his presence to Abrax as he came to stand next to the other man, the former Sheifa heir could see that whoever was driving those chariots had done a bit of pre-gaming, to say the least. The chariot swerved wildly, first to the left, and then to the right in big arches that extended beyond just sheer carelessness. They were all drunk off their asses.
Sutekh quietly shook his head at the sight, muttering under his breath, “Really? Ra almighty the whole lot of them are idiots.” He made no attempt to hide his words from Abrax, though. There was no point when he thought that the man next to him was thinking the same thing. After all, as high ranking officers, the two of them were supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening and stop it when it did… but Sutekh was not exactly thrilled about the prospect of needing to march over there and order them to break it up. It brushed too close to his newfound power as a Prince, something that folks seemed to think that they could either choose or choose not to listen to thanks to the Bastard prefix attached to his name. Drunkards were even worse as they respected no authority other than the one who was giving them their beer. It was not an exciting prospect to say the least.
However, as the more inexperienced Deputy General glanced around, Sutekh noticed that even though there were supposed to be quite a few other high-ranking officers lingering around, the two of them were the only ones present. All the others were likely caught up in some other duties and who knew how long that would take, leaving the two men on their own to deal with this… if they wanted to deal with this, of course.
A small smile crossed his face as a brilliant idea crept into mind as he continued to watch the drunk charioteers. Given the situation, if Sutekh and Abrax decided to join them, there would be quite literally no one around to stop them. Not that they would anyhow. Sutekh had no doubts that each of their high ranking roles would shield them from trouble if they were caught joining in on the fun. It had been such a long, tiresome day filled with boring tasks, after all. The two men deserved to go and unwind for a moment, have a little fun, didn’t they?
“What do you say we go over there and show them how it’s really done?” Sutekh suggested with a sly look on his face as he turned to Abrax. He didn’t know if the man would be okay with bending the rules for a little bit, but surely the prospect of a chariot race was far more interesting than just standing around here waiting for something to happen. It would only take a few minutes, after all. No one would miss them. All Abrax had to do was say that he was on board and this boring hot day would take a thrilling turn after all…