Pharaoh's Ghost {Completed/Editing}

XV*

"Help me, my lady. Please help." A woman's voice came from the hallway. Kirk watched as Shukura's head snapped toward the door and rose to her feet. The cry came out louder yet faint. Kirk glanced in her direction and watched as she raced for the door and pulled it open as another scream shook the walls. Rising from his bed, Kirk followed her out into the hallway. Footsteps from either side of him told him that other people were joining him due to the commotion. He whipped his head around, hoping to find where the princess had gone.

The voice screamed once more followed by a long wail full of sorrow and misery. He gawked around and watched as Shukura's pink hair, in a sea of black, disappeared into the lower level from the stairwell. Kirk pushed through the crowd with people giving him strange looks. He didn't know why but felt compelled to follow the princess. Stepping onto the marble floor, he noticed many people gathered at the entrance as Shukura's bright pink hair pushed through the crowd. 

Chewing on his bottom lip, Kirk pushed his way through the long hallway, however he was stopped in the middle. He stood on his toes to get a better look through the crowd. He watched as a woman knelt on the ground screaming something he couldn't understand as she cradled the head of a man who lay unconscious on the floor with blood pooling beneath him from a stab wound. A sickening feeling fell into his stomach, threatening to bring up the food he had devoured prior. He placed a hand over his mouth and braced his back against a wall pushing the feeling to the side. The man was wearing the same garb as the soldiers in the palace, which meant he was most likely the one to bring this about. 

"What happened to Gauis?" Jafari shouted from the front. Kirk turned his head and watched as he approached the couple and Shukura lowered to her knees beside him. She placed her hands against his chest before lowering her head and turning towards her father without uttering a word. Kirk watched as Jafari pulled his shoulders back before turning back towards his wife. She held the man close to her chest as his blood coated her white dress. 

"I'm not sure." The woman sobbed, "He was sent to me from Queen." Kirk watched as she reached into her dress and removed a scroll she promptly handed to Jafari. Kirk watched as he unrolled the script and scanned the page. Shukura rose to her feet with her head lowered. He couldn't see her face to even fathom what was going through her mind. Sucking in a deep breath, he pushed away the nausea and forced his way through the crowd until he joined the princess at her side. 

"Dear Gamila," Jafari began reading aloud, "I am writing this to you, in your sorrow. Please know I am raising your husband to Omega, the Creator, and your family in prayer. Your husband died as a noble hero. A stranger attacked us and Gauis fought with all his might to keep me and Pharaoh safe. However, during battle, he became injured which he later succumbed to despite my best efforts to keep him from falling to the mortal plain beyond our reach." 

A silence fell among the crowd as he read the letter. Kirk chewed on his bottom lip. Memories of his arrival flooded his mind. There was a good chance, that he didn't kill the man but how was he truly able to know? Kirk felt a hand caressing his own causing him to jolt his head and turn his head toward Shukura. The princess grabbed his arm and looked toward the couple with her brow furrowed and her lips pulled into a thin line with worry in her eyes. "Poor Gamila." She uttered at last. "The last I heard, Gauis was going to come home to meet their three-year-old son for the first time. I can't help but wonder if they were attacked or if Pharaoh killed him." 

Kirk pulled his head upwards and watched as Jafari stood beside the woman as four other women approached them carrying what he assumed was a gurney of some type with two rods being held together by a limp piece of cloth in the middle and both being long enough to carry a body. "Shukura," Jafari called. Kirk felt her tense up against his arm before pulling away and making her way forward. Kirk watched in silence as she knelt beside the body once more and helped the other women pull her away and place him on the makeshift gurney.