Author's note: Sorry it took so long! I hope it's worth the wait! DX

Previously:

"I'm not from Egypt," she corrected him. "Neither is Carol. We're just a couple of lost girls trying to survive long enough to find a way back home." She licked her lips and moved closer to the bars. "The war hasn't started yet. It's not too late to release us, you know. If you don't… I won't be able to guarantee your safety. Please, at least let Carol go."

"I doubt you're in a position to guarantee anything," Izmir remarked cockily with a smirk. "Why should I give up my perfect leverage over the Egyptians?"

Bonnie's expression hardened. "You may think you know what you're dealing with… but, believe me, you don't," she told him sternly. "This city is destined to burn!"

She was so deadly serious that it almost made Izmir nervous. "You…"

"My prince!" Kurush said urgently, rushing down to meet him. "The war is about to begin! Egyptian fleet has been spotted on the horizon!"

"!" Bonnie's eyes widened slightly in surprise. She had expected this would happen, but it seemed sooner than she anticipated.

"I see!" Izmir said. Everything appeared to be going to plan. He spared Carol's iron handmaiden one last glance as he turned to leave. "It seems it's too late to grant your request now, even if I had wanted to in first place…" he told her with another smile before heading for the stairs.

"Hey, you arrogant prince!" she shouted after him, grabbing the bars as she leaned forward, pressing her forehead against them and craning her neck to see if he could still hear her. "If you don't let Carol go, I'll be the one holding the match!"

He didn't even bother looking back. He merely responded by raising one of his hands to wave off the threat, as if it were nothing.

Bonnie's grip tightened on the bars.

The Hittite Prince wasn't scared.

He should have been.

Chapter 20: Out of Bondage

Gazing out of a small window in a stone wall overlooking the sea, Carol could see a great battle taking place on the waters below. They were too far away for her to make out individual faces among the fighters, but she could hear their shouts and war cries carried by the wind. Memphis's forces seemed to have the advantage. "Egyptian troops are coming…" she thought aloud, feeling anxious. "They're about to land!" Maybe she and Bonnie would be saved!

"My king and prince! The Egyptians are too strong! We're going to lose!" Kurush reported nervously to Izmir and his father, who were observing the battle from the top of the fortified walls surrounding the city.

"Calm down," the king said. "We haven't lost yet!"

But Izmir could tell they would soon, unless something changed.

"The Egyptians keep calling for Carol, the daughter of the Nile!" another soldier reported.

Izmir closed his eyes. He could hear it, too. It seemed the time had come to test his theory…

Carol looked to the door when it opened, startled to see that she had an unwelcome visitor.

"Hum!" Izmir hummed when he saw her. It seemed his threat to hurt Bonnie if she tried to run was effective. Carol hadn't made a single escape attempt since they returned, even though the Egyptians were now well within her line of sight.

"Izmir!?" she gasped, turning around to face him. "What do you want from me? Where are you keeping Bonnie? You haven't hurt her, right?"

"Hmm… You're rejoicing because the Egyptians are winning… am I right?" he asked in return. It was written clear as day on her face, and the way she flinched at the insinuation was a clear sign of her guilt. "You needn't worry about Bonnie. She's safe… for now… But don't forget, you hold her life in your hands. Now, come here!"

"?" Carol was wary of the sudden request, but she did as he asked. 'Izmir… He looks at me with such scary eyes…' she thought worriedly.

"I'm going to see how important you really are to the Egyptians," he said, reaching out to take hold of her.

"What?" Carol gasped, confused. 'What is he planning to do??' she wondered, beginning to panic. "What are you planning to do with me?" she cried as he pulled her from the room.

"Now! Hurry and follow me quietly!" Izmir ordered her, keeping a tight grip on the girl while he hurried back to the wall.

"My prince… The king is asking for you… Please hurry up!" Kurush said urgently when they crossed paths, having been sent down to find him.

It was a good thing, because the king had left the wall to take his place his own warship.

"Izmir! Do you have a plan?" the king called as his son crossed the rocky shore to board the ship, still dragging Carol along.

"Yes!" Izmir called back over the sound of the crashing waves.

"Let me go!" Carol yelled, starting to struggle against him. "Memphis!" she tried calling for her pharaoh, but he was too far away.

Izmir spared her a very brief but jealous glance before returning his focus to the battle at hand. He was going to enjoy humiliating Memphis with defeat.

"Egyptian troops have already sunk half of our ships! What are you planning to do now?" his father asked anxiously. At this rate, they would be the ones to be annexed!

Izmir drew his sword and pointed it at Carol. "Listen up, you damned Egyptians!" he bellowed over the roar of the battle and waves.

"It's Carol!" the nearest Egyptian soldiers shouted, alerting anyone else on their side who might not have heard him to her presence. "Oi! Carol!"

"Stop right there!" Izmir ordered them, holding his sword against the terrified girl's throat.

Memphis froze with his sword in one hand and a beaten Hittite soldier in the other. Minue and Unas also stopped what they were doing to listen.

"I am Prince Izmir! Order your troops to withdraw right away, or else I will kill this girl right here!" the Hittite prince shouted, shocking every Egyptian present.

"Carol! Izmir! You coward!" Memphis yelled, paling in fear for her life. 'That bastard! He dares to use Carol to threaten me!' he thought, outraged and breaking out in a cold sweat at the thought of what the enemy might do to her.

"Let's go!" an Egyptian soldier near him cried.

"Let's retreat!" Minue shouted in agreement, issuing the order.

"Fall back!" Unas yelled, helping to spread the word.

"Oi! My Carol!!!" Memphis cried. He knew they had no choice, but he hated the idea of leaving her with a scoundrel like that!

Izmir smirked while he listened to the Egyptian's numerous cries of surrender. Every single one of them withdrew without question.

"Haha! You have turned this battle around!" the king cheered.

'These bastards! I know what they're up to!' Carol thought angrily while the prince and the other Hittites laughed at their panicking enemies.

"Haha, this girl is very useful to us!" the king declared.

Carol's attention was drawn away from him when she felt someone tug on the hem of her skirt, and she looked down to find that a dying soldier had crawled over to her. She kneeled down to comfort him.

"I'm sorry… that I can't help you! The protector of Egypt! Carol!" he coughed weakly, almost choking on the blood in his mouth. "We are willing to give up our lives to bring you back to Egypt…"

"There… You're one of Egypt's men," she cried. She suddenly looked up and saw the bodies of all the wounded and dead that had been left behind in their hasty retreat. Carol gasped and held her face in her hands, horrified by all the blood and carnage. She turned her attention back to the soldier who had been clinging to her. His grip had loosened, his eyes were closed, and he looked as pale as death. 'My God! He's dead!' she thought, feeling sick and trembling in shock.

But he wasn't, not quite. "Please… stay-y with us…" the soldier pleaded with his last breath.

Carol's breath caught in her throat, and tears fell from her eyes. It was too much. "Hu hu hu…" she sobbed, breaking down as she gazed down at the body at her feet. 'This soldier… has died a meaningless death…' she thought, choking again when she looked out at the rest of the corpses floating in the water. It was too much… It was too much for a sheltered girl like her who had never been exposed violence! 'Because of me… a slave… They've mistaken me for their goddess… and went into war with everything they had…' She sobbed, trembling and cradling her face in her hands, blinded by hot tears of grief and guilt. 'All of you have misunderstood me! I'm a just a normal girl from the 20th century that became lost in this world! My God… all of these soldiers have died a meaningless deaths just because they have mistaken me for a goddess who will protect them all!' Her world started moving again when she heard Memphis's cries for her.

"Carol! Release Carol!" the Pharaoh yelled, straining against the men holding him back, desperate to get to her.

"Let go of me, you jerk!" Carol shouted at Izmir, struggling to break free from his grip so she could go to him.

"Return to the palace!" the Hittite prince ordered the soldiers steering his father's ship.

"Pharaoh Memphis, please calm down…" Minue said anxiously, keeping a firm grip on his ruler with the help of Unas and another Egyptian soldier. "The best thing to do right now is to leave shore and come back when the time is right!"

"That's right!" Unas agreed urgently.

They all wanted to rescue Carol, but if they acted recklessly, they could put her in danger!

"…" Memphis gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, shaking from the effort of trying to regain control of his emotions so he could come up with a plan to save her.

They were all so busy worrying about Carol that they forgot to think of their own safety. None of them saw the group of Hittite soldiers silently creeping up on them from the side to board their ship.

"Die!!" the Hittite soldiers shouted suddenly, hurling their spears at the Pharaoh.

"?" Memphis gasped. He somehow managed to dodge the first one. "Watch out for their sneak attacks!" he yelled to his own men, raising his sword and ducking as the rest of the deadly weapons fell upon him.

"Memphis!!!" Carol screamed when one pierced his shoulder, and she saw blood. She started fighting harder to escape from Izmir. "Memphis! You're injured! Let go of me! Memphis… It's all my fault! I've caused all this!"

Izmir glanced between Carol and the injured Pharaoh while both sides withdrew their ships to regroup with sharp eyes, holding tight to Carol. He furrowed his brow. That wound may or may not have been fatal… Memphis's death would mean victory for his country, but if the enemy's leader survived… He would have to plan accordingly for both scenarios.

"Memphis! Please don't die!" Carol cried. "Live for the people of Egypt!" She worked herself up into a such a frenzy that she passed out.

"Say that again, bitch!?" Bonnie's first guard shouted indignantly, seething with anger over the insulting comment she had just thrown at them.

"Now, now… she's just trying to get you riled up so we'll open the cell…" the second guard cautioned his buddy more calmly, holding him back so he wouldn't do anything stupid. "Sticks and stones, sweetheart," he told Bonnie with a smug smirk, clearly proud of himself for having figured out her ploy. The prince had warned them she could be devious.

'Tch! Just my luck I'd end up with a smart guard…' she thought, annoyed that her primary plan had fallen through. "Call me that again, and I'll find some."

"You're lucky I don't just stab you through the bars!" the first guard snapped at her.

"My, it certainly is lively down here…" Mutallu said, descending the stairs to join them.

"Diviner Mutallu!" the guards said, immediately at attention.

"…" Bonnie regarded the elder court official carefully. He was an older man with a wizened face and grey hair, probably in his early to mid sixties, and skinny but healthy for his age. Her own interactions with him had been limited, but he seemed to hold a position of great respect among the Hittites. She supposed that was only natural. Diviners, especially accurate diviners, were important in ancient times for helping rulers interpret certain phenomena that could be viewed as signs and omens to determine the will of the gods.

"I received a message that there was something our prince wanted me to have a look at?" Mutallu said, wondering what could be important enough to call him away from assisting in the sacrificial ceremonies at the temple near the queen's palace to secure the favor of victory from the gods. He had wanted to stay by the queen's side while she carried out her duties as Tawananna since her heart seemed to be in turmoil.

"Ah, yes! It's this!" the second guard said, fetching the item for him.

"!" Bonnie furrowed her brow and frowned when she saw that it was her bag. What were they up to now? The idea of strangers from the past sifting through her personal belongings made her particularly uneasy since she had items from the future in there. That bag was an explosion of awkward questions waiting to happen with a compact mirror, pencil, sunglasses, Avon lip-gloss, a Maybelline makeup compact, a wallet with her student ID card and modern Egyptian money (which would just like a bunch of worthless paper and odd coins), a tin of Altoids, plastic water bottle, small spiral notepad, aspirin, lighter, random receipts, elastic hair ties, plastic comb, pleather address book, plastic poncho, safety pins, flashlight, old movie tickets, a tin of raspberry flavored Les Framboises Bonbon Fruits, gum, Band-Aids, Bactine spray, a modern snakebite kit, bobby pins, a glow in the dark yo-yo, granola bar wrappers, keys, and empty tubes of lotion and sunscreen. She hadn't wanted to throw anything non-biodegradable away, or that would make for a very confusing find for some future archaeologists. Unfortunately, her Swiss Army pocketknife was now at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. She had also kept everything from the future together in the bag they came over in with her, because she was worried they might fall into the wrong hands if she left them lying around… So much for preventing that.

"?" Carol was startled when she woke up to find herself back in the room Izmir was holding her in before he took her out to the battle. "This is bad… I've been brought back to the Hittite palace? What about Memphis?" she cried anxiously. "Oh… I remember now! They were fighting… the sound of weapons echoed to where I was!" She got up and ran to the window. Night had fallen, and she could see the soldiers' bonfires below. She could hear some of their voices even from her high room.

"The Egyptian troops are really strong!"

"They battle hard!"

"Yeah! We've lost half of our battle ships already!"

"But when Prince Izmir pointed his sword at the girl, the battle really turned in our favor!"

"They dropped their weapons and surrendered willingly!"

"Don't count on it yet! They've just retreated for now! Don't let your guard down!"

'Memphis has withdrawn his troops…' Carol thought, gasping when she remembered how he had been injured. 'I hope he's still safe…' She gasped again and her blood ran cold when she suddenly recalled what Professor Brown had told her after they discovered his mummy in the future, and how young he was when he died. She fell to her knees in shock, trembling. 'Oh, my God! Memphis… he…' She screamed. "Memphis! I finally understand why you died so young!!! It's all because of me… I shouldn't have been in this world in the first place! … You shouldn't have known me…" she sobbed. 'My God… maybe… I saw Memphis's pained expression that time!' She was beside herself with guilt. "He wasn't paying attention, so he was wounded! Memphis… you have sacrificed yourself for me… You've loved me that much?" she cried. "Hu hu… God is too harsh! Why must he take someone so good away from me! Hu hu hu…" she sobbed. And it wasn't just him… she remembered all the poor Egyptian soldiers who fell on the battlefield for her sake. 'Not only Memphis, but also those soldiers… They were all willing to die in order to save me… a normal girl that was lost from the future and came here…' "You all are mistaken… I am not your goddess… I'm just an ordinary girl… why must you risk your life for me?" she cried, holding her tear-stained face in her hands. "I hope all of you will forgive me! It was because I was reckless, not thinking of the consequences, that I have caused all of this sorrow and sadness… Carol, you deserve to die…" she told herself. "Because of your selfishness, all you could think of was yourself, so you caused this massacre. The spirit of all Egypt! Please, tell me what to do… What can I do to clear my sins?" she prayed. Deep down, she already knew the answer. "Prince Izmir is planning to make Egypt part of the Hittite Empire during this war. I have to think of a way to prevent his evil plan from coming true and save Egypt! Yes! It is the only way now!"

"Stop dreaming about Memphis…" Izmir said sternly, making her flinch in surprise. The girl had been so wrapped up in her little soliloquy, that she hadn't even noticed his arrival, and he had heard enough to be angry. "He is dead!"

"What?" Carol gasped, paling in shock in horror.

"That's right! My men have drowned his body in the sea already!" he told her. Although he was making this up to frighten her into submission, it may not have been a lie. Reports had yet to verify whether or not the Pharaoh survived his wounds, so he really could be dead, if he was lucky. He grabbed her by the arm to lead her from the room. "And you, if you want to live, you better tell me what you know about the death of Princess Mitamun!" Since Bonnie had proved so difficult to read, he had decided to try Carol again. His mother, who had arranged for another esteemed priestess to take over for her at the temple for awhile, had decided she wanted to speak to her as well.

"I don't know anything!" Carol insisted.

"If you don't, I may have to hurt your handmaiden," he threatened.

"Handmaiden… You mean Bonnie? Don't you dare!" she yelled, struggling futilely to break away from him again.

"Bring that girl over here!" the queen commanded when she saw them, a worried Mira following quietly in her footsteps.

"Yes, my queen!" Izmir answered dutifully, bringing Carol to her side.

"Tell me! You stubborn girl…" his mother ordered with teary eyes, grabbing the daughter of the Nile by her shoulders. "Or was it you who killed my daughter?"

"It's not me! Bonnie doesn't anything! But it-t…" Carol said quickly, stopping herself before she gave too much away about the real culprit. 'No! I can't tell them!' she thought, trembling with fear.

"What about the doctor?" the queen asked.

"Doctor?" Carol asked.

"Your handmaiden!" the queen snapped impatiently. "Does she know anything?"

"No! Bonnie really doesn't know a thing!! She wasn't even there!" Carol exclaimed, anxious to ensure they had no reason to hurt her cousin.

Izmir noticed a strange expression flickered briefly across his mother's face but said nothing. He closed his eyes and looked at the trembling girl next to him. 'Carol… It is obvious that you know who killed my sister…' he thought, starting to lose his patience. "You tell us who did it… and we will spare you life… or else, I will chop you up into pieces right in front of those hateful Egyptians!"

Carol shuddered in fear but refused to speak, so Izmir marched her down to the dungeon.

"…" Bonnie's muscles were starting to tremble, and a bead of sweat slid down the side of her face while she continued to exert enough pressure to keep her hands and feet pressed tight enough against the stone walls of her cell to keep her from sliding back down. Since direct provocation hadn't worked, she decided to try a different approach to lure the guards into opening her cell door. After Memphis withdrew, the Hittites had moved all captured enemy soldiers into the cell not too far from her own. It must be massive, because there seemed to be over a hundred Egyptian POWs being shoved into it… Not that she had really been paying attention, since she took advantage of the guards' momentary distraction to finish filing down the weak link she discovered in her shackles with the metal nail file she had hidden inside her braid on the off chance they got caught, and pulled the chain apart so that she could move her hands to climb up and out of sight in the corner next to the door, completely concealing herself from the guards. She knew sooner or later one of them would notice that she appeared to have vanished, but the bastards sure were taking their time… had they noticed what she was up to?

"Hey, wait a minute… wasn't there supposed to be someone in that cell?" one of the newly added guards asked.

'Finally…!" Bonnie thought, relieved. Clinging to the walls like Spiderman was a lot harder than it looked! They had increased their number with the arrival of the Egyptian prisoners, but she thought she might still be able to take them if she was fast and smart about it. She didn't need to beat all of them, just enough to get the key to the other cell. The Egyptians could help her do the rest. Unlike her, they hadn't been shackled. She honestly wondered why they had bothered with her.

"What! That's not possible!" one of her original guards shouted, rushing over to look for himself. He leaned against the bars and craned his head to scan every visible inch of the cell. "She's gone!" he cried incredulously. "She's really gone!"

"What!?" the second original guard exclaimed in disbelief, running to check for himself. He couldn't see her either. Bonnie had found the perfect blind spot. "No way!!!"

"A prisoner escaped! What the hell have you two been doing?" another one of the new guards demanded.

"It's not our fault!! That girl is unnatural!!!" the second guard complained in their defense, while the first new guard to speak grabbed the key for the cells.

"Calm down! She's just a girl… It's not like she can walk through walls," he chided his comrades. "Watch, I bet you anything she's just hiding in this blind spot next to the door…" he said, unlocking her cell door and stepping inside to turn and look at the corner. "!" He was shocked to find it empty.

Bonnie smirked and dropped down on him with the full force of her weight, knocking his helmeted head hard enough against the stone floor to ring his helmet like a bell. 'They never look up!' she thought, congratulating herself as she grabbed the key and his sword, tucking the former it into her dress.

"What the…!?" the guards exclaimed, apparently too startled by the unexpected turn of events to react properly, because she managed to disarm the first two men without any resistance.

"Get her!" one of the more experienced-looking guards shouted, recovering first.

Two guards came at Bonnie the same time, each swinging their sword in wide sweep that would have most certainly beheaded her if she hadn't dropped to slide through on her knees. The instant she was clear, she popped back up with a spin and kicked both of her legs simultaneously, hitting them square in the middle of their lower spines, and used them as a spring board to shoot forward again to dodge the next attempt on her life.

The Egyptians started to cheer for her, but she had to direct too much of her focus on the men coming at her with swords to pay them any attention. She needed to concentrate on finding an opening to get close enough to give them the key so they could bust themselves out. It couldn't be more than 20ft from her cell, but it might as well be twenty yards with the trouble the guards were giving her. She had learned a little swordplay when she was younger, from participating in historical reenactments, but her skills were too inferior to theirs for a direct confrontation now that they were ready for her.

Bonnie whirled and dodged, and the Egyptians whistled, while the Hittites cursed. When it didn't seem she could get any closer, she decided to take a risk and tossed the key at them. "Catch!" she shouted at her fellow prisoners, preparing to throw it, when at strong hand snatched her wrist and another snaked around to grab her waist. Bonnie grunted, grabbed her captor, and gave herself a little push up from the ground, rocking herself up then back down so she could use her momentum to swing him over her shoulder.

"!" one of her original guards cried as he crashed into the floor.

This seemed to startle the others, because they hesitated to charge at her, but before Bonnie could move another inch, she heard something that made her blood run cold.

"One more step, and Carol dies!" Izmir bellowed, stopping her in his tracks.

Bonnie froze and slowly turned her head to look over to the top of the stairs, where she was faced with the dreadful sight of the Hittite prince holding Carol hostage with his knife pressed against her throat. Her cousin was trying to say something, but her shouts were muffled by the hand he had over her mouth.

She wasn't the only one scared by the threat. The Egyptians were yelling at him to let their daughter of the Nile go, and begging her to do whatever he asked to prevent Carol from being harmed. There was no need.

Izmir knew he had Bonnie when he saw the fear in her eyes. Having a knife held against her own throat hadn't scared her, but seeing one against Carol's terrified her. "Drop them! Now!" he ordered her.

"…" Bonnie narrowed her eyes, but did as she was told, holding her hands out to let the sword and key fall to the floor.

Two of guards immediately rushed forward to confiscate the discarded items, while the rest shoved her to the floor and held her there.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. 'Again with the overkill…' she thought.

"You there! Prepare the torture equipment!" Izmir ordered as he descended the stairs with Carol.

"!" Carol and Bonnie were startled, wondering which of them it was for.

Bonnie was pretty sure they were meant for her after what she had just pulled. Now that she was no longer caught up the fight, she could make out what the Egyptian prisoners were saying more clearly.

"It's Carol!" some of them cried.

"It is her!" others gasped.

"That scar… I heard her handmaiden has one like that!" one man said.

"She was struck by lightning and lived!" said another.

'Lightning…?' Izmir thought, taken aback. He looked at the girl again in disbelief. He had never heard of someone surviving a direct hit from the power of the gods before.

Bonnie glared at him for staring. She was tempted to tell him, "Take a picture, it'll last longer!", but she knew that would be pointless since he'd never understand the reference. The prisoners were still flapping their gums behind her. They were pretty chatty for POWs.

"No wonder she's so strong!" a few others exclaimed in awe.

"She came so close!" others murmured, cursing the prince for the dirty trick he used to stop her.

'But no cigar…' Bonnie thought, disappointed in the outcome.

"But the handmaiden's supposed to have copper hair!" someone complained.

"Strange! Maybe Carol has two!" the men began to speculate.

'My God!' Carol thought, gazing at all of them, stunned. 'It's because of me that there are so many Egyptian prisoners!'

"Everyone quiet down!" Izmir ordered, deciding he had heard enough.

The imprisoned Egyptians didn't seem to understand simple language very well, because they kept talking, some of them even raised their voices.

"It's the Daughter of the Nile!!!" they cried. "She's our Goddess!"

'Hey! It's the key!' Carol thought, spotting it when the guard who had retrieved it placed it back in its usual place, which was conveniently close to her. She bit her lip. 'I have to find a way to get the key to the Egyptians!"

"I will insult your goddess in front of all of you… And I'll see if you still worship her then! But, first…" Izmir said, signaling for the guards to move Bonnie to the whipping post. He needed a demonstration to discourage further escape attempts, and it had occurred to him that since Bonnie was Carol's weak spot, she might finally give in to him if he were to endanger her wellbeing. If he was right, then he would be able to kill two birds with one stone.

'Figures…' Bonnie thought, chagrined and unsurprised. Carol was an important hostage, after all. Why damage her body more when they could manipulate her emotionally? Bonnie was glad Carol seemed to be getting a reprieve for a moment, but she wasn't a fan of pain. She shot the prince a defiant glare to let him know she wasn't happy with him and to cover up any anxiety she might have felt over her impending torture.

"!" Carol gasped in alarm, her attention immediately drawn away from the key, when it clicked into place was happening. "No! No! Don't hurt Bonnie! Take me instead!" she begged.

"If you don't want her to get hurt, then talk!" Izmir retorted sternly.

Carol panicked. She needed to get Izmir to want to hurt her instead. "Let me go! I'd rather die than let you, Hittites, insult me!" she yelled, suddenly pushing herself away from him hard while he was directing one of the guards to grab the whip.

"Oi!!!" Izmir shouted, startled that she had actually managed to break free. "Watch out!" he ordered the guards as Carol rolled among their feet, worried they might trample her.

'What the heck is Carol doing?' Bonnie wondered, wishing they hadn't faced her in the opposite direction so she could see. She was worried her cousin was doing something stupid to paint a bull's-eye on herself in a misguided attempt to save her. Bonnie thought she might be able to take a few lashings, but if the prince attacked Carol's back again, she would lose what little skin she had left on it!

Carol had managed to palm the key without any of the men seeing while she controlled her fall to roll into the metal bars of the Egyptians' cell. "Don't touch me… you cowardly bastards!"

"What?" the prince said incredulously, his voice vibrating with rage.

'Dammit!' Bonnie cursed, banging her head against the wooden pole she was strapped to. Now she'd done it! She started struggling against her restraints. "!" her eyes widened as she got a good idea. While the Hittites were distracted by the drama on Carol's side of the room, she shimmed up the post like a caterpillar. If she couldn't get around with the restraints, then she would just go over!

"Oh, no! Princess!" the Egyptian prisoners gasped, their worry turning to surprise when their heroine stealthily slid the key to them through the bars.

"Hide it! Quick!" Carol whispered to them.

"Carol, it's me!" one of the prisoners whispered back.

"?" she turned to look at him, and her eyes widened in recognition. "You are… Sechi from Gosen village!" she exclaimed, shocked to see her old friend there. And he wasn't the only familiar face present.

"Princess Carol, keep it up!" the man who had let her and Bonnie take shelter in his shadow when Memphis made them work with the slaves encouraged her with a grin.

"!" Carol gasped. "Do you know what happened to the Pharaoh?" she asked anxiously.

"Princess, the Pharaoh is…"

Before Carol could hear the rest, she was suddenly yanked back by the furious Hittite prince.

"Oi!" he growled, squeezing the back of her neck. "You've just said that I was a cowardly bastard!"

"Hey!" Carol whimpered, paling in fright when she saw the dangerous look in his eyes.

"I dare you to repeat that again!" he challenged her with a fierce glare, forcing her back onto her feet as he stood.

"Let go of me…" Carol cried stubbornly, even though she was obviously terrified out of her wits, slapping and beating against his chest with her hands. The prince remained completely unaffected.

Until Bonnie startled the wits out of him when she dropped down on him in a body slam from above. "You cowardly bastard!" Bonnie finished for her stunned cousin, digging her elbow into his ribs.

"Prince!" the guards cried in alarm, immediately rushing to his aid.

'When did she…!?' Izmir thought, wincing as he shoved her away. She was still tied up, so how the hell was she able to do that?

"B… Bonnie!?" Carol exclaimed, also shocked.

"Hmph!" Izmir held Bonnie pinned down with his knee in her back, while he pushed Carol into the hands of the guards.

"!" Bonnie had to keep herself from wincing when he grabbed her by the neck and wrenched her head around to get a better look at her face. For a moment, she thought maybe they had finally pushed him too far, and he would just kill her.

"I'll let you taste the pain of being whipped!" he told her after a dark moment, hauling her back to the whipping post. "Let's see if you still dare to insult me again!"

'I guess I should feel relieved…?' Bonnie thought, her adrenaline spiking in anticipation of the threat. She was glad she wasn't dead yet, but she could tell by the look in his eyes that her back would be a whole lot worse than Carol's by the time he was done with her. She was really tempted to say something sarcastic, but decided not to provoke him for her crying cousin's sake.

"No! You bastard!!" Carol screamed at the prince when he ripped the back of her cousin's dress so there would be nothing to soften the blow of the whip. "Don't touch Bonnie!!!"

"Carol!" Sechi cried, clinging to the bars, worried she was about to do something drastic.

"Don't act recklessly, Sechi!" his fellow slave whispered anxiously, though he was worried about the girls, too. "Or else the plan will be ruined!"

"It's alright, Carol!" Bonnie said, doing her best to stay strong for her cousin while Izmir held her head pushed against the post with one hand while he reached for the whip with the other.

"My prince!" Kurush called with excellent timing, appearing at the top of the stairs. "Reinforcements from Hattusa are here!"

Izmir glanced between the two girls and the prisoners. Given how close she had just come to freeing them, he felt it would be dangerous to continue to leave Bonnie down there with them. "… Shackle her hands and feet," Izmir ordered the guards, holding the dangerous handmaiden still for them.

Bonnie kept her bound hands held close to her chest to keep the top of her ripped dress up, which kept threatening to fall down, as she stumbled out onto a veranda in the company of two extra guards, while Izmir held onto Carol. "…" the two girls frowned and furrowed their brows, staring out into the torch-lit night at the vast crowd of soldiers below.

"Our troops are even bigger now!" Izmir said, encouraged by the sight.

"Good! I've been waiting for them!" the king said, also there to view the new arrivals. "The Egyptians don't know this yet, so tomorrow we will go to Egypt and make a surprise attack… What do you think Izmir?"

"Yes! That is a very good plan!" the prince agreed. "Guard! Take the Nile Daughter back to her room!" he ordered, handing Carol over to one of the other men.

"Yes, sir!" the guard answered dutifully, stepping forward to take her.

Izmir waited to given them a head start before addressing two of the men guarding Bonnie. "Confine the handmaiden in another room! I don't want them anywhere near each other!"

"Yes!" the guards responded seriously, keeping a tight grip on her as they led her away.

"After talking over the military secret, I'll go back!!!" the prince called to his father, descending to speak to the generals leading the new troops.

"…" Bonnie furrowed her brow, already considering her next move. She had seen how upset Carol was by this development. 'Knowing her… she'll freak out and try to escape again…' Fortunately, Izmir had reduced the number of guards on her.

"Hurry up, now!" the men escorting her urged. They exchanged a nervous glance with each other. Despite the large scar on her body, this girl was very beautiful… But she was also very scary. They hated to think what the prince would do them if they failed to keep her confined. They were glad the hand and leg shackles restricted her movements to small strides. It should make it impossible to run away. Especially since she had to keep her hands pressed against her dress's damaged top to preserve her modesty.

"!" Bonnie let out a gasp of pain and startled them when she abruptly collapsed like a dead weight in their hands.

"Oi! What's the big idea?" one them asked, suspicious.

"Are you hurt?" the other asked, concerned.

"…" Bonnie mumbled something unintelligible under her breath.

"What?" the kinder guard asked as they both leaned down. "!" he gasped in alarm when she suddenly swung her shackled fists up and together at the suspicious guard's face, hard enough to instantly knock his comrade out cold. The kinder guard blushed furiously as her top began to fall, so distracted by the way the fabric began to slide down her chest, that before he knew it, her arms were over and around his own head and neck, pressing tight to cut off his air supply before he even had a chance to straighten up or call for help.

'Sorry…!' she apologized silently to the kind one, feeling a little bad about that one since he had been genuinely nice, blushing out of embarrassment as she quickly pulled her dress back up. She really hoped he didn't see anything! But it didn't stop her from stealing his and his partner's sashes to tie the ripped fabric securely in place, to avoid another wardrobe malfunction, and to wrap around the chains on her ankles to keep them from making noise, or from rushing off to find Carol while holding the ones on her wrists taught so they wouldn't clink together. 'Let's see… We have to get out of here fast…' she thought, moving through the halls as quickly and stealthily as possible, hoping she wouldn't run into anyone capable of stopping her. 'There are soldiers all over the city, and Izmir will be coming back soon… when he doesn't see us in our rooms… If we can't escape this time, he'll most likely kill us.' Carol had a chance of surviving with a beating, but Bonnie knew that she would be a goner for sure. 'And if things go according to his plan, the Egyptians will suffer a great deal… Carol will definitely want to warn them… In this situation... which route would she take?' Bonnie thought back to their last escape attempt and remembered Unas mentioning to her cousin that there was an empty dungeon no one used under this city. It must have been filled in with land in the future, because she didn't remember anything like that when she was here with her parents. But she didn't doubt Unas. He had no reason to lie to them. 'If it was abandoned due to flooding, then maybe it has an outlet to the sea…!' she thought. 'In any case, with nothing better prepared, I'm sure that's were Carol will go!'

Bonnie wished she had her flashlight when she reached the dark, cavernous space bellow the palace. It was pitch black, and she could barely see her own hand in front of her face. She smiled when she heard the echo of a familiar voice.

"It was said that this cavern here used to hold prisoners," Carol mused aloud, taking comfort in the sound of her own voice in that deep, empty darkness. "I wish Bonnie was here… but, if I know her…"

"She's already is here!" Bonnie finished with a smirk, clapping a hand over her startled cousin's mouth to prevent her from screaming in surprise at the way she snuck up on her.

"You scared me!" Carol scolded her when she let her go. She could barely make out her cousin's face in the dark, but she recognized her voice very clearly.

"Shh! Keep it down! Voices echo down here," Bonnie whispered, holding a finger to her lips.

"I'm glad you found this place!" Carol said, lowering her voice. "Unas said it was abandoned now because it's too wet, that no prisoners could stand it."

'Yeah, anyone living down her for a prolonged amount of time would probably catch pneumonia…' Bonnie thought. "I know, I was there," she reminded her, taking her hand. "Come on, let's find somewhere drier to sit and catch our breath."