Continuing on with my paranormal romance set in ancient Egypt…Nima and Kamin were captured by a caravan master who planned to sell them to the pursuing enemy. Nima challenged the man to a game of senet, with her life and Kamin’s as the stakes and a blood oath between herself and the caravan master that they’d each honor the outcome. Nima won, which we saw last week…
Kamin and Nima travel with the caravan for several days, during which time Nima ponders an offer from Ptahnetamun to sign a contract with him, joining a Minoan dance troupe traveling through Egypt, giving shows. She spends all her time with the dancers, soaking up knowledge, rather than with Kamin. He has to work their passage as a camel minder. At the end of the first day, he’s pleased to find her in their assigned tent but she makes it clear she isn’t staying. (Andrios is the leader of the Minoan dance troupe.) Apologies for the punctuation but I wanted to give you the whole snippet.
“Once the camp is completely set up, Andrios called for a rehearsal. He’s created a new story he’s telling through dance and wants my opinion on it, as an Egyptian, representing his future audience.” Nima’s face fairly glowed with her pleasure in being consulted by the Minoan, and Kamin bit back a cutting remark.
He probably wants more than her opinion.
“Andrios promised to teach me some new acrobatic moves as well so come and watch, after you’ve eaten and bathed,” she said.
Grabbing a chunk of the bread, Kamin said, “I wouldn’t miss the opportunity.” Time to meet this man and assess how much of a threat to me he might be when it comes to Nima. As she skipped from the tent in eager haste, he wished yet again that he wasn’t under strict orders of secrecy – the desire to tell Nima everything about himself was driving him mad.
VS sez: There’s intense scholarly debate about camels and when they were domesticated and when they might have first been used in the ancient Egyptian area. The Egyptians themselves don’t seem to have depended on the camel until 500 years or so after the time my novels are set. However, there’s enough Middle and Near Eastern Bronze Age evidence for me (statues, inscriptions, and seals depicting camels walking caravan style or being ridden) that camels were domesticated and used as beasts of burden and for riding by groups other than Egyptians from about 2000-1800 BCE. I think that gives me latitude to propose that goods and people could well have moved in and out of the Black Lands in 1550 BCE by camel, in caravans. And I don’t find it a stretch that at least one caravan could have an Egyptian as its leader. And provide passage to Kamin and Nima for a few days!
And (note for another day), there’s a great deal of evidence for contact between the people of Minos and ancient Egypt in my time frame…
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The story:
Egypt, 1500 BCE
Nima’s beauty and skill as a dancer leads an infatuated enemy to kidnap her after destroying an Egyptian border town. However, she’s not the only hostage in the enemy camp: Kamin, an Egyptian soldier on a secret mission for Pharaoh, has been taken as well. Working together to escape, the two of them embark on a desperate quest across the desert to carry word of the enemy’s invasion plans to Pharaoh’s people.
As they flee for their lives, these two strangers thrown together by misfortune have to trust in each other to survive. Nima suspects Kamin is more than the simple soldier he seems, but she finds it hard to resist the effect he has on her heart. Kamin has a duty to his Pharaoh to see his mission completed, but this clever and courageous dancer is claiming more of his loyalty and love by the moment. Kamin starts to worry, if it comes to a choice between saving Egypt or saving Nima’s life…what will he do?
Aided by the Egyptian god Horus and the Snake Goddess Renenutet, beset by the enemy’s black magic, can Nima and Kamin evade the enemy and reach the safety of the Nile in time to foil the planned attack?
Can there ever be a happy future together for the humble dancer and the brave Egyptian soldier who is so much more than he seems?
DANCER OF THE NILE, an Amazon Best Seller, is AVAILABLE on Amazon Barnes & Noble All Romance eBooks iTunes Smashwords
Ooh, he’d better tell her soon, before her dreams of dancing take her away from him.
Kamin seems to have a hard time again. I wonder how long he will keep this up and let her do as she pleased.
I have a feeling he’d better tell her soon or he’ll lose everything. Fingers crossed for those two.
This just keeps getting more and more exciting! Looking forward to reading about those acrobatic moves. 😉 Fabulous excerpt, Veronica!
It’s probably not very nice of me, but I’m really enjoying his internal turmoil.
I’m loving his inner turmoil too! Come on…spill!
His inner turmoil makes me chuckle. Isn’t that a wee bit evil of me. lol Great snippet.
I feel bad for Kamin. Cut the guy some slack. Let him tell her something.
From what you say, camels probably hadn’t been domesticated for very long. Kamin probably had his hands full.
Some secrets Kamin just has to keep…their time with the caravan is challenging for him. But Nima’s using it to think through what she really wants to do…thanks for stopping by on this busy holiday weekend and commenting! Much appreciated!
I always enjoy your snippets : ) This week is no exception. Have a very Merry Christmas Veronica…oh, and give that guy some relief soon ; )
Zipping along, Veronica, you tantalize us with your story. Exceptional eight. Merry Christmas and let the good times roll as the New Year approaches. Kamin needs relief from his burden.
Ooh! I want to know all that info about him too! I love the historical info you’re giving us. I’ve seen comparisons of the artistic representations of human form between the Minoan and Egyptian civilizations, and there are some striking similarities.
Oh, I agree with Kamin, that Andrios probably wants more than her opinion. Great eight and thank you for the historical information! It’s really interesting :_)
Tense and intriguing as always! I’m wondering if Nima has no idea how he feels or if she’s just pushing it out of her mind, with everything she has to think about.
You must have had such fun researching. Isn’t it titillating to play around with possibilities? BTW how did you come up with Nima’s name? It’s so unlike the typical Egyptian names we usually see, but those tend to be royal names.
I don’t remember exactly how I arrived at Nima’s name but occasionally I take just a syllable or two from a name of the appropriate time period, of the appropriate gender. (The character probably told me her name – Nima is a pretty strong person LOL.) I also felt, given her backstory her name was probably simple…she’s definitely not royalty.
I’ll try not to add any historical footnotes next week…this is becoming the annotated version of Dancer of the Nile LOL. Happy Holidays, one and all!
I’m interested in reading about those acrobatic moves too. I wonder if there’s going to be any sort of fighting between Kamin and Andrios at this rehearsal.
I’m with the others — I enjoyed his turmoil too.
Great conflict and understandable for him to wish to check the guy out!
Poor Kamin—now he has to watch our for “enemies” on a completely different front! 😀
I wonder is Nima knows that she’s caught him?
“IF” Nima knows . . . sigh.
I think he wants more than her opinion too. Very intriguing.
Sounds like the attraction she feels for him might be scaring her and she’s using the dance as avoidance.
Ooo, tell her! Lovely 8.