Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Hope you guys enjoy the music 😊❤

Naoki's Pov

Darkness, it swirled around me, slowly eating away my vision. My muscles became heavy, my breathing was off and I could feel my blood still leaving my body. At this rate I would be dead in about twenty to thirty minutes.

I clutched my fists. Bleeding slowly to death was not something I looked forward to. I still had so much more to do. Dying was not an option.

With a renewed sense of vigour I gathered all the strength I could to muster and stood up. I had to create fire fast. I gathered any burnable material I could find and started a fire outside the tent by reflecting the sunlight off my sword, a technique my father had taught me when I was a kid.

After I got the fire going I placed my dagger on it and waited till it glowed like the burning sun. I looked down at my cut. It stretched from my left rib nd went right across for 6-7 inches. If I hadn't dodged when I had my insides would probably be on the ground right now.

Once the dagger was hot enough I picked it up using a torn cloth. I held my breath. This was going to hurt, badly. Without looking at my wound I placed the hot dagger on it.

An unknown scream made it's way out of my mouth. The pain of the wound mixed with the burning pain of my flesh was more than I could bear to handle. I bit down my teeth to stop anymore screams from erupting. I continued the process again and again till I burned my entire cut. No matter how much I tried to control my screams they managed to slip out every single time, louder than the one before. Zen must have heard me and came galloping to where I sat. The stench of burnt flesh seemed to agitate him.

"It's alright boy. Calm down," I whispered. I seemed to have used up all my energy yet again. I felt sleep start to take over me but I punched myself in the face. I had to stay awake at all costs.

I forced myself to get up with the help of my sword and made my way to Zen.

"Zen please sit down. I can't climb you," I said. I wasn't sure if he would understand but I didn't have any energy to speak horse at the moment.

Somehow he seemed to get what I said and sat down. I climbed onto the saddle and he rose up but he almost threw me off his back in the process.

"Let's get back to camp," I said as I stroked his soft mane and he immediately set off, soreing through the sand like a cheetah on fire. When did he get so much energy from?

I was beginning to lose my consciousness again. I slapped myself to stay awake but this time it didn't seem to work. I slapped myself even harder but I couldn't stop the blackness from devouring my vision yet again.

No.. I had to stay awake. If I sleep now I might not wake up. I fought with all my might not to give in but unfortunately the darkness seemed to have won this time and I plundered onto the depth of darkness wondering if this truly was the end.

**********

Numb.

The first thing I felt was an odd numbness on the left side of my body. I also felt something cool and soothing there. Um.. I wondered what it could be. I tried to open my eyes but my head seemed to hurt when I moved my eyelids.

Why was my head hurting? Did I fall down and hit it or something? I tried to open them again very slowly this time and my head did hurt but it was bearable.

I was met by a ceiling. Wait, it wasn't a solid ceiling. It seemed to move slightly, like a wave. I don't think ceiling were supposed to move?

I tried to sit up straight but I felt a rush of pain make its way to my left side. I groaned loudly. What in the world was that? Then it hit me. I bolted upright and immediately regretted it as the pain doubled making me nauseous. Before I could make a move I heard the slight movement of the flap and a cool breeze seemed to make it's way into the tent.

"Oh dear Aten you're up," came a familiar voice.

"Mahu? Is that you?" I asked squinting my eyes to get a clear view. The tent was dark and there was only two fire torches that glowed hardly illuminating the place.

"I need to tell the others," Mahu said running off without answering, leaving me confused and in pain.

I tried to get up from the small wooden bed I seemed to be in but my pain returned making me groan again. Do I never learn?

I looked down to inspect the wound and to my horror I was missing my clothes. Well apart from the brown strip of cloth to hid my lady parts above and a pants for my bottom. There was a some sort of herbal paste that had been applied to my wound. Before I could inspect it Mahu came back but this time all the Liwaas and Baako were here too.

"Thank the Gods you're awake," Darius said moving forward but stopped dead in his tracks.

"How long was I unconscious for?" I asked looking at all of them. They all seemed to avert their eyes from mine. What was wrong with all of them? Have they never heard of eye contact before? It then hit me and my cheeks flared up on realisation. I pulled the cotton sheets over me to hide torso. Why was I so slow to realise everything?

"Five days," Baako said without flinching.

"What!!!!! Five days? What happened to the war? Who is leading the troops? What..," I was cut off before I could ramble on.

"You should probably get dressed before we discuss anything," Asim said a bit rudely.

"No, I need answers now. What happened to my troops?" I asked with authority. Did everything go according to plan or were we on the verge of lossing? I had to know.

"It's not you're army anymore and it's not like you can lead it either," Asim said harshly. His arrogance made my blood boil and I had had enough of his attitude.

"Then whose is it? Yours? A man who has absolutely no respect for anyone but himself?" I asked as I tried to get out of the bed. The pain pulsed through me but I didn't care. No one spoke to me like that. Especially after everything I just went through.

"I've been kidnapped, saw my husband and brother almost die, left my best friend when she needed me the most, discovered that the queen wants her own son to fail and then almost died just so I can see Egypt fall? I might be a woman but I have more fire in me than anyone standing here. If you still think I'm not capable I'll fight you, hell I'll fight you all if I have too, right here, right now," I said panting. I was now standing upright, clenching my fists so tight that my nails dug through my palm. As much as the pain stung I wasn't gonna let him talk back to me like that just because I'm a women. Who does he think he is? Blood boiled through me like liquid metal. I'm gonna knock him out.

"Please take a seat General. Don't want your wounds to worsen. I standby what I said. In this state you can't lead an army. You have already done enough. Besides we have almost won the war," Asim said looking right at me.

Wait what did he just say? Did he call me General? So when he said I couldn't lead the army it because I was injured not because I was a woman? I really couldn't understand this man. So his arrogance is a mask? All this thinking made me dizzy.

"We will be taking our leave now. Please put on some clothes and we shall explain everything after you've had something to eat and drink," Asim said before leaving. The rest of them gave me a slight bow and left without saying anything. Even Baako left without a word and now I was standing alone in the tent looking like a mad woman.

Sheesh! These people really do test my patience. My stomach growled so loudly it almost frightened me. I just realised how hungry and thirsty I was.

After dressing up and almost chocking on my food I was ready to hear what had happened although my body seemed to disagree. Every task seemed to challenge me. Even sitting seemed to drain away my energy but I didn't mention it to anyone. 

Asim narrated all the events and everyone listened intensively. After I had disappeared Mahu had found the two men in the well. From them he learnt about the entire plan and how I had gone in search of Khen. Zen had somehow made it back to camp and I was given immediate treatment for my wounds. Since I had already seized the bleeding there wasn't much anyone could do but wait for me to recover at my own pace. Meanwhile the first stage of the plan had gone off without a hitch and so we were able to get the upper hand over the war. The remaining troops joined in shortly and we had seized control over the battle field. Now we were leading and it was only a matter of time before the Hittites surrendered.

I listened to Asim with my mouth open throughout the naration. Did we really have the upper hand? Was this really happening? After all this time I could see a ray of sunlight peeping out from the dark clouds. Happiness was an understatement of what I was feeling right now.

"... then you woke up and you know how the rest goes," Asim said.

"I missed all the action. I was totally of no use," I said pouting. The moment to prove myself had slipped and I was slightly upset that wasn't part of any of it.

"Not true. If it wasn't for you stopping Khen we would surly have died and Egypt would have lost the war. You are the main reason for this victory," Darius said with a smile.

"Probably but I'll most likely lose my job or be thrown in the dungeon because you couldn't follow instructions," Baako said sighing. I let of a giggle but stopped cause of the pain.

"Does it hurt a lot," Bast asked looking concerned.

"A little but it's nothing I can't handle," I said with a smile. I guess my wish did come true. I managed to win these men over without my horrible sense of humor. This had to be a dream, there was no way I could believe this to be real.

**********

We won the war after three days and our soldiers rejoiced in victory. We sent a letter stating we weren't going to take any of the soldiers as captives. It was what Aahotep had decided and I felt it was the right thing to do too. Hopefully this earned us a bit of their good win.

All my life I wanted to be a warrior, to fight for my country, to be on the front lines and show the whole world that I was strong, that women were strong but now that I was here I hoped I would never have to step on a battle field ever again. All the blood and death was too much for anyone to take and it pained me to see it. I guess I had changed for the better all because of one person, Aahotep.

I longed to see him and Ammon and Anka. I hoped Ammon had woken up. It had been only a few weeks since I last saw them but it felt like it had been years.

The ships set out sail once again. The blue sky reflected off the water and the wind blew mildly setting the mood for the journey back home. I stood on the docks breathing in the last stench of war.

"You really love to sail don't you," Baako asked as he stood by my side.

"Yes, I do. It gives me a sense of adventure," I said looking outwards into the water. The ship had set out and my spirits seemed to lift up.

"Ya, it really does," Baako said and for the first time I saw him smile. A genuine smile. I guess war did change people sometimes for the better too.

A/n:

Hey guys I'm back with a new chap 😋. First of all I'm sorry for deceiving you all in the previous chap 😅 but I just wanted to do something crazy. This was actually not how I had originally thought I would play out the war but I thought this would be more fun.

So did you enjoy it? We are almost at the end.

Well hope you all have an amazing day. Love ya!! 😊❤❤