Prologue: A Beginning
Feet coated with a thick layer of dirt and grime, a young child ran through the winding streets of Egypt. Chased by palace guards, the seven-year-old swiftly flew by familiar merchants and slaves. Some of the bystanders waved, some smiled, some snickered, and some laughed openly as they watched the notorious troublemaker run from the authorities.

Sweat sheathed the faces of all parties involved in the chase as it reached an intersection. The brunette on the run paused, but only for a moment, and then took off again down a road leading west. The guards on the other hand spared no two seconds, and in doing so, gained on the child just a little bit more.

Small children ran around a build site while their parents worked. Mostly girls went back and forth between the dirty bucket of grime filled water and their parents, but a few boys were down in the muck as well. The Jewish population of Egypt had taken a treacherous downfall in the past decade, and things were not improving. But the Hebrew community stuck together, and everybody knew everybody else. Quite a few of the younger children, those of four and five years, waved at the blur of tanned skin as their friend streaked by. But upon catching sight of the big men on horses not far behind, they all scattered to hide themselves behind various objects, scared of the mere thought of the horrible things those big men did.

Meanwhile, turning down the wrong alleyway, the miscreant ran into a dead end, and whipped around just in time to see the two burly men on their horses coming up the alley. Before, the Jewish child had had the cover of the busy streets, making it easy to dodge between people, while the guards on their horses had to make their own way through. Now, in the deserted alleyway, the young slave had no where to go.

“You!” the leaner one of the two yelled.

“What?” the child spat back.

“You. I want to know… wait.” The guards had finally reached the child, and the one speaking reached down and pulled the loose and tattered, sorry excuse for a piece of clothing away from the child’s body. Looking down the front of it for a moment earned him a death glare from the child in question, but he quickly let go and looked up.

“You’re a girl,” he declared.

The girl crossed her eyes at him. “I know that.”

Slitting his own eyes at the child for mocking him, he flicked the short strands of hair out of the girl’s sweaty face.

“You look like a boy. Where’s all of your hair. Why is it so short?”

“I cut it off.”

“Why?”

“It was in my way,” the child replied, frowning as she toyed with the Silver Star around her neck.

“Mm-hm…” the guard murmured doubtfully. Dear lord Ramses though, she looked like a boy. And that was not a good thing. Well for this little girl in any case, because under strict law and penalty of death, they were supposed to make sure that all Jewish males under the age of eight were killed. Yes, seven and under meant that their family had broken the law, and Ramses II’s view on things were as such “better late than never”. Originally, Ramses I had set down a law stating that all male Jews were to, at time of birth, be killed. This was to ensure that the Jews didn’t overrun Egypt, and had been set down about fifteen years ago. But with Ramses I becoming ill, the law had slowly fallen to the wayside. And so Ramses II, more to outdo his father than anything, reinstated the law seven years prior, and with the anger of Ra behind him, he made quite sure that there were few mistakes or trip-ups.

But, dragging himself back to the matter at hand, he again looked down at the girl. She looked like a boy. Too much like a boy. And if she wasn’t careful, she could be killed.

So deciding to fix this one himself, he reached down for the little girl, grabbed her by the arm, and hoisted her up onto his horse.

“What are you doing?” the little girl tried to turn around and look at him as she demanded an answer.

“I’m taking you with me.”

“Why?”

“Because.”

“Because why?”

The guard gave the child a look, before smacking her upside the head with the blunt end of his sword. The blow sent the girl into a deep stupor, and her body slumped forward.

The second guard, whom had enjoyed just sitting back and letting the youngster work, now sat up straight in his saddled and looked sternly at his partner.

“Rueben, are you sure this is such a good idea? What I mean to say is that as soon as Ramses sees her, he’ll have her killed.”

Rueben nodded in acknowledgment and firmly yanked the silver star from the girl’s neck. “Yes, but that’s only if he finds out she’s Jewish. Rainef, I cannot just leave her out to run the streets, especially when she looks the way she does. You know yourself how many of the men would simply slice her through without a second thought, then find out she was a girl and say “Oops.” Rueben looked Rainef in the eye. “So please, don’t say anything.”

Rainef, already in his late thirties, thought only a moment before grabbing his reins, and starting back up the alley at a trot. “You got it kid. It’ll probably kill me one day, but you got it.”

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