Replay - The Secret of the Pyramids - 5. Chapter 5

A crag lay to our left, in whose shade we had been traveling for the last fifteen minutes. My fear of having to travel on camelback once more, albeit in an upright position, proved to be unfounded. Instead, we were sitting on a small cart, being pulled by two horses. A cloth roof provided much welcomed shade. All in all, the ancient equivalent of an air-conditioned coach.

Only there were no walls. The cart was open on all sides so the hunter could look out for prey. There wasn’t anything to see right now so the respectable hunting gear wasn’t made use of yet. Amongst it were spears, boomerang-like throwing weapons, as well as a bow and arrows. The latter in duplicate. The second one probably being used as a replacement in case the first one was damaged.

Besides Manu and I, there was another servant driving the vehicle and a maid. She would probably be the one preparing the slain prey. I could easily imagine that freshly-hunted meat being served at the dinner party tonight.

Judging from Elisa’s database, hunting was a favorite past-time activity in Ancient Egypt. I still didn’t get it, but Manu seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself. He scurried from one side of the cart to the other, peering into the desert or toward the crag. Some animals found shelter there, he explained.

However, they had either all holed up, or gone on an extended foraging trip, because Manu didn’t catch sight of anything yet.

“You’re just sitting around, Ameniu! If that’s how you had hunted at home, you’d probably have caught very little.”

Well, firstly I had never hunted before and secondly this was his hunt, not mine. But if he insisted I participate, I would do so.

“Let's say we make a bet. Who will be the first to find something?”

He laughed. “But critters and vultures don’t count!”

All right, he asked for it. Now I would make an effort. Let’s see if I could win this bet. Squinting my eyes, I began to survey the surroundings.

Then, a better idea came to mind. I ordered Elisa to scan for life signs in the area and mark their positions, except for birds and critters.

A few seconds later, my field of view was dotted with various sightings.

“2x lynx – 700 feet” a spot ahead along the crag.

“1 bull – 4400 feet” somewhere in the desert – that was too far.

Without paying attention to any further targets, I decided to go for the lynxes. We were approaching their position anyways and it was only a matter of time until Manu would find them, too.

Pointing in that direction, I tapped on his shoulder. He stared intensely that way.

“I don’t see anything over there. Are you sure?”

Of course I was sure, which I expressed with a confident nod. As a side note, I didn’t see a thing, either.

We were a mere 160 feet away when the two animals came into view behind a ledge. Manu immediately stopped the cart. We were lucky, the lynxes had not noticed us yet.

“Not bad! You were right, you won. Now let’s go slay them.”

He took one of the bows and handed the other to me. “I'll take the left one, you take the right one. We have to shoot at the same time, otherwise one is going to get away.”

What?! I was supposed to shoot, too. With a bow and arrow? So the second one wasn’t just for backup.

Okay, focus now. One time my physics teacher brought a bow for the last lesson before the holidays. And at a campus party I had the pleasure of target practice once again. Yet, these models had been made of aluminum, not wood. And despite the target being immobile, I didn’t hit it.

Manu had already jumped off the cart and was walking forward, stalking. I hurried to follow suit. Over the next minute or so we slowly moved closer, keeping crouched down.

Finally he stopped, deciding that the distance was good enough. I didn’t agree. How was I supposed to hit anything from so far away?

Slowly taking an arrow from his quiver, he drew his bow. “What are you waiting for?” he whispered.

I tried to imitate how he did it as best as I could. Although it probably looked a little clumsy, I ended up with a drawn bow. I also copied his stance. Good thing he wasn’t paying attention to me, but to the target.

I tried to aim towards the lynx on the right.

“Success probability 28 percent,” Elisa commented. Quite deflating.

“Recommendations: Aim two inches higher. Draw the bow 3 inches further.”

I hurried to implement her most welcome suggestions. Drawing the bow further, however, required a lot of strength, which decreased accuracy.

“Okay, Ameniu. We shoot on a count of three.”

“Success probability 43 percent.” At least I improved.

“One… two… three!” I let go of the bowstring, as did Manu. The arrow whizzed through the air and the string rebounded, hitting my forearm. Ouch!

A fraction of a second later, one of the lynxes was thrown up into the air. The other one scurried away unscathed.

“You missed the target by 5.2 feet,” Elisa remarked, sounding like a satnav. It was good she told me though because I couldn’t have said who hit what.

Manu had the better-trained eye. “Don’t despair,” he said as we arrived at the slain lynx, “you barely missed it. It happens to the best marksmen.”

That almost sounded like a compliment. However, I wasn’t even near ‘good’ on a marksman’s scale.

The maid arrived looking happy about the spoils. “Our master shot well. It will suffice for the first course.”

I concurred with her. Manu had done a good job. Better than I, anyway.

While we were returning to the cart, the maid started to gut the animal. I didn’t follow her skilled movements any further, as I found the whole process rather disgusting.

Manu filled two jars with beer from a clay pot. “A successful hunt needs to be duly celebrated.”

The beer was already lukewarm, but it was refreshing nonetheless. Also, it went straight to my head, which shouldn’t come as a surprise in this heat.

The maid finally completed her work and jumped up on the cart with us. The driver clicked his tongue and we started to move again. I enjoyed the headwind cooling me down a little.

“Shortly we'll arrive at a small oasis. A lot of animals come to drink there,” Manu said.

Sure, an oasis always sounds good when you’re traveling across a desert. Feeling little desire to burn my skin again, I inwardly thanked the cartwright for the cart’s cloth covering which lent some shade.

Ten minutes later a green swathe came into view. It was quite a large cluster of palms bunched around a small pool. Grass spread over the ground next to it. Long before we arrived I knew a group of bulls were enjoying the precious water.

Manu stopped the cart short of the first palms. He wanted to proceed on foot from there in order not to scare off potential prey. Of course, he didn’t know about the bulls yet, because the palms were blocking the view. Conversely, the animals neither saw nor smelt us coming.

Manu happily grabbed a spear and shouldered bow and arrow. He jumped down, looking back at me with anticipation. Evidently, he wanted me to accompany him again. I wasn’t sure whether hunting alongside his master really was a routine task for a personal servant. Anyway, I certainly didn’t want to displease him, so I geared up as well.

In secret I hoped though, that the animals would notice us and run away. I found a group of four bulls, a precarious target. I had never held a spear before in my life, let alone used it.

Cowered down we carefully moved through some shrubbery. Manu ahead, I followed behind. A certain suspense and a hint of adventure were in the air.

Suddenly he signaled me to stop. I caught up with him on all fours.

“Look, there are four bulls ahead,” Manu whispered in my ear.

His breath tingled pleasantly on my skin. As he continued to speak, the tingling started to extend to other body parts. Quickly I concentrated on something else to avoid an unwanted reaction from my body.

I had to admit, though, cowering right next to Manu in the shrubbery was exciting, almost sexy.

Man! I must have suffered brain damage from the heat already. How could I attribute anything erotic to hunting in the middle of the desert?

During these musings, my mind almost forgot to process Manu's words.

“We’ll take the foremost one. First, we shoot him with the bow, then dash forward chasing with the spear” he said.

I debated for a second whether I heard correctly. Did he actually want to attack this herd of dangerous looking beasts?

I frowned, holding up four fingers.

He just laughed. “Don’t worry. As soon as the arrows hit their target, the others will disperse. We just have to struggle with one.”

That appeared dangerous enough. I was trusting his hunting experience though. Hopefully, he didn’t count too much on my help, because I doubted I could do a lot.

“On a count of three again.” He drew his bow. So did I, trying to keep Elisa's recent hints in mind. I had noticed my arrow falling short of the lynx so I aimed a little higher this time.

“Success probability 74 percent.”

That sounded good. It remained unclear, however, whether the increase was due to my handling the bow better or simply because of the larger target.

“One… two… three!”

I released the arrow whizzing in the direction of the animals. Ouch! Again, the string hit my forearm. That makes two bruises in one day.

Immediately after shooting his arrow, Manu jumped out of our cover and started running towards the herd. I tried to keep up with him.

Both arrows actually hit the target. The bull reared up. As Manu had predicted, the others scurried frantically away.

The wounded one started to make his escape as well. However, seeing Manu running towards him, the bull paused. Roaring in anger. It pawed the ground, then charged directly towards Manu.

Fuck!

He didn’t flinch and continued to head towards the animal, his spear raised high. In just a few seconds they would collide. The bull would pierce Manu with its horns!

All of a sudden, Manu tripped over a stone. He screamed, falling forwards on the ground. The bull did not veer off.

I was scared silly. The bull would trample him to death any second!

Without thinking twice I zig-zagged around Manu. Approached the bull from a slight angle. With all the strength I could muster, I drove my spear into its neck.

The bull gurgled, veering off a little. In his rage, it dragged me along for a second as I was still holding on to the spear. It missed Manu by a couple of inches, finally collapsing a few feet away.

I stood up. Still trembling, and turned around to look at Manu.

I kneeled down next to him. My face a picture of dread. Hopefully, he didn’t fracture a bone or something else serious. I wasn’t so confident about ancient medicine being able to treat stuff like that.

His voice was shaking as he started to speak. “I’m okay… I think. Just a few scrapes. But if the bull had… you saved me at the last second, Ameniu.”

He slowly got to his feet. He was still somewhat wobbly, but didn’t appear to have broken anything.

Totally unexpected, he approached and gave me a big hug.

“Thank you. You probably saved my life.”

I was moved and gave in willingly. His heartfelt embrace just felt so nice.

I wasn’t sure how long we had stood there, his arms locked around me. When I became aware of it, I detached myself. I even blushed a little.

Phillip, keep your temper! You’re dealing with a married man from a completely different time.

Manu, however, wasn’t embarrassed by the long hug. A lot calmer now, he suggested returning to the cart so the animal could be gutted.

Walking behind him, I took a look around. The other bulls were long gone. When we arrived at the cart, Manu instructed the maid and ordered the driver to help her.

I made myself useful in the meantime by pouring two jugs brimful of beer. It was warm already, but I couldn’t care less.

Sipping the beer, we leaned on the edge of the cart.

“We really earned this one!”

I nodded animatedly.

---

“Can you come up here a minute, Ameniu?”

I was decorating the small tables in the reception room with some flowers when Manu called me from upstairs.

I would have liked to answer ‘just one moment please’, but that didn’t work. So I placed the bouquet aside and climbed the stairs.

Nobody was to be seen on the second floor, so he had to be one floor higher. And indeed, he was, still standing on the stairhead.

“I’d like to take a shower before the guests arrive in an hour or so. Go get two jars of warm water from the kitchen please.”

That was, of course, a requirement for showering because faucets and water pipes had not been invented yet. All water came from a well.

I went downstairs again. Entering the kitchen, I noticed Jahna and the two cooks were preparing meat. The bull we slew would become the main course. So I left them alone. In front of the left wall, I found several clay jars with water. It was fresh and cold. Somebody must have fetched it from the next well. Thankfully that wasn’t my job.

Manu had said warm, so I put two jars on the fireplace built into the front end of the kitchen. The fireplace was open to the outside so smoke could escape. It always appeared to be lit.

What felt like an eternity later, and after testing the temperature with my finger many times, the water was ready. Because I wasn’t able to carry both jars at once, I had to carry them upstairs one at a time.

After I put down the second jar, Manu probed the temperature. He nodded, being satisfied with the result. He had already put some kind of soap in the first jar, which looked cloudy.

Good. My task here was done. Time to return to decorating.

Just as I was about to leave the bathroom, however, he stopped me.

“Where are you going? Should I pour the water over my head myself?” He laughed. “Then how exactly am I supposed to scrub myself?”

It took a moment before I got the meaning of what he was saying. So I should stay here and pour the water over him? I wouldn’t even have thought of doing that, given that in my time one was usually alone in the shower. However, the water there came from a showerhead so Manu’s objection was justified.

A pleasant prickle ran down my spine. I could imagine worse things than pouring water over a cutie like Manu and watch him soaping himself.

Damn! Instead of exciting myself with such fantasies, I need to watch out and hide my erection. Because it wouldn’t fail to appear for sure.

“Let’s go” he commanded joyfully. “First, the soap water.”

Saying that, he dropped his waistcloth. He now stood in front of me fully naked.

Oh god, help me! I quickly turned around to the jar. Bending down to pick it up, I used the opportunity to adjust my manhood to a less dangerous position.

Keeping my eyes strictly on the jar in my hands, I stepped behind him. I was trembling a little and my heart was pounding. Also, I needed to pay attention not to drop the whole jar on his head. I slowly started to pour the warm water over him.

However, I couldn’t refrain from peeking at his body, especially since I had to check that the water was going where it should.

He ran his hands through his hair and down his back. His strong arms glided over his neck, face, and legs. As he bent down to reach his feet I took a look at his well-shaped butt. That was all it took for my erection to finally spring up, forming a conspicuous bulge beneath my waistcloth. Good thing Manu didn’t look.

Oops, he was looking! Turning his head to the side, he eyed me up hesitantly. I thought I saw insecurity in his gaze.

Now he noticed my erection. My face turned hot and red. He’d think I was a sick pervert or worse. Not daring to look into his eyes, I lowered my gaze.

He turned around fully.

To my surprise, I saw that he had a hard-on, too.

Suddenly, he started soaping my chest with his hands. His touch electrified me, causing me to moan. I looked up. He smiled gently.

I couldn’t believe what was happening!

Our eyes met, sending a feeling of deep affection for him through me. I was still holding the jar above his head – above us rather because Manu had come so close I could feel his breath on my skin. His mouth was looking for mine. We kissed. I could feel his tongue on my lips and permitted its entrance. A tingling sensation spread from our touching tongues throughout my entire body.

After what felt like an eternity, our kiss ended. He continued soaping me, first my back then my arms. He left little kisses on the way.

His hands and his mouth ventured lower, eventually grabbing my pulsing cock. I moaned as Manu tenderly slid back my foreskin. Looking up into my eyes, he started to caress the head with his warm tongue.

The jar was empty already so I put it down on the floor. I pushed Manu back a little. He was already covered in soap, but I wouldn’t miss the chance to help soaking him with my own hands. He seemed to enjoy me stroking his strong chest and playfully running my fingers around his hard nipples.

I grasped his erection with my right hand and massaged it, while slowly leaning over him. Our lips met again, opening a hot dance of two tongues. I was now laying on top of him. Our dicks touching one another. It was pure bliss.

After a while, he pulled back. His voice was raspy as he spoke. “Let’s get the jar with clear water so we can clean each other.”

No sooner said than done. While he was pouring water from the other jar over us, I cleaned his body. Of course, I took care to explore every inch of his skin with my hands. Then, it was my turn to hold the jar and he did the same to me.

As the water was finished and we were clear of any soap, he pulled me in with a cheeky kiss, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. His tongue swirled down my body, it caressed my nipples as well as my navel. Reaching my cock, his tongue engaged in a wild blowing frenzy, sending warm shivers through my body. Surely this wasn’t the first time he’d done this, was it?

I was already quite horny so it took but a minute until I was about to come. My cock twitched in anticipation, being engulfed in the wet heat of Manu’s mouth. I released a loud moan. Unable to hold it back any longer, I came, experiencing the most intense orgasm I had ever had. My cock erupted into his mouth. He swallowed every drop.

Having cleaned up all traces of my climax, his mouth returned to mine for a deep kiss.

Now, of course, I wanted to return the favor…

---

I carefully threaded my way through the maze of small tables in the reception room, refilling the wine glasses of the always thirsty guests. The appetizer, already devoured, had enjoyed great popularity among the invited Egyptians. Everybody was dressed well, sporting lots of jewelry.

The atmosphere was similar to a dinner party in my time. Not everything was the same, though. The guests didn’t dine on a big, long table but they were spread out in pairs over many small, round tables.

While the two maids were doing their job in the kitchen and Jahna served the meals, I was tasked with serving drinks. I tried to stay on top of things, but my mind was severely side-tracked by the events that had unfolded a mere fifteen minutes earlier in the bathroom.

So, Manu was gay? No, that certainly shouldn’t be phrased as a question. Manu was gay. Period. There couldn’t have been more solid evidence.

And he liked me. The thought alone warmed my heart. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t really had a boyfriend before. Unless you count that one time at summer camp.

The weirdest thing, though, was that Manu was married – with a woman. Or maybe it wasn’t so weird if you considered the circumstances of this time? It wasn’t the 21st century and homosexuality had a very bad reputation. After all, it didn’t lead to children, which seemed to be the main goal of Egyptian family life.

So should I judge him for his choice?

No, I didn’t want to. And I didn’t have the right to do so. Who knows, I might have done the same in his shoes.

A guest threw an angry look at me because I had almost knocked over his glass. I bowed to apologize and slipped away. I should really pay more attention.

Manu sat at one of the tables as well, but he switched often to get the chance to talk to each of the guests. When I came to him to refill his glass – which I did basically after every sip he took – he gave me a cute look.

I was on my way to the kitchen to fetch a new bottle of wine, as something dawned on me.

Oh shit! Didn’t Elisa record each and every thing I saw and heard? Which made sense for scientific purposes and to evaluate the mission. However, I’d rather keep my little adventure with Manu to myself. No need for my older colleagues to choke on their coffee whilst reviewing the material. Or worse, for the main lab’s big screen to show porn featuring yours truly.

So, I needed to delete those scenes. Hopefully, Elisa would play along.

“Elisa, please delete the audio-visual recordings starting from when I entered the bathroom on the third floor until I left it.”

“Recordings deleted.”

I sighed in relief. Good thing I had admin rights.

“I conclude from your command that you want to conceal the content of this recording from any third party. To that end, it would be useful to enter into the log a technical fault as the reason for the absence of this recording.”

I smirked. A recommendation of pure logical brilliancy. Sometimes she was smarter than I’d expect. Other times, not so much.

“Go ahead and do that. And if you encounter similar… scenes in the future, proceed in the same way.”

Now I was prepared for whatever fun and games might come – and boy did I hope they’d come.