Disclaimer: I do not own The Scorpion King or know any of the actors, production crew, etc. I do own the character Helenis and anyone else you don't recognize from the movie.

Author's Note: This one's a little creative on my part. See, the only reason I went out and rented TSK was because of Peter Facinelli, who plays Prince Takmet. So, I automatically made Takmet my favorite character, even though he's evil and gets killed in the end. But, I set out to change that, and here it is. :^)

A Prince's Fate
by Froggie Lover

Chapter One: A Gomorrah Greeting

Helenis was world-weary drifter. She had been through all of Greece and Mesopotamia, never staying too long in any place. She couldn't quite remember where she had been born, but her parents had abandoned her when she was young. Helenis never really made human contact with the people she would pass in places such as Mycenae and Canaan. The only place that she ever opened her mouth to speak was in Delphi, where she had learned the ways of being a priestess. She rarely spoke, but always watched. That was her gift; that was how she learned the ways of the ancient world.

Today, Helenis found herself in the grand city of Gomorrah. It was a bustling place, full of people with things to do and places to go. She sat on a cliff high above the city, simply watching as she always did.

She noticed a man walk out of the palace in the center of the town. Many guards surrounded him. She silently laughed and shook her head. That must be the famed Lord Memnon. Well, I must say, he's not really much to look at. Helenis slowly climbed down from her perch. She would have to investigate this Memnon character for herself.

~*~*~*~

Prince Takmet followed Lord Memnon into the outer parts of the city of Gomorrah. He looked around at the common people surrounding them. They were all poor and peasant folk, giving Takmet a sense of pride as he walked around clad in leather and silver armor.

Memnon suddenly stopped walking. He grabbed Takmet's arm and pointed to a mountain that stood out side of the city.

"Takmet, look," he said. "What do you see?"

Takmet squinted against the sunlight and made out a darkly clothed figure climbing down the ridges in the mountain. "I see someone climbing down the mountain." He looked baffled. "What does it matter?"

The Lord's grip on Takmet's arm tightened. "Don't you see it? Someone could be planning an assassination," he said in a hushed whisper. Memnon turned to the Captain of the Guard. "Thorak, go to the mountain and capture whoever it is that is up there. As soon as you have discovered enough relevant information, bring them to me."

Thorak nodded and swiftly rounded up three men, and they headed towards the mountain.

"Why would anyone even bother in trying to assassinate you, Memnon?" Takmet asked off-handedly. "It's not like they could get past your loads of guards."

"Sometimes guards fail," Memnon replied. "But that is why you keep others besides guards around you. Like traitor princes of rebel tribes, for example."

Takmet clenched his teeth and continued to silently walk behind Memnon. He had pledged his allegiance to Memnon to keep from being killed, but he began to wonder now if it had been such a good idea.

~*~*~*~

Helenis stopped descending in her climb and warily looked down. Below she saw four of the guards who had been protecting Memnon walking towards the mountain. "Damn the gods," she muttered. She quickly turned around and started climbing back up. When Helenis had reached her first perch, a pair of strong arms pulled her behind a rock overhang, out of the guards' sight.

She turned to the stranger, surprised. She raised an eyebrow. "An Akkadian."

"A Minoan," the stranger replied.

Helenis shook her head. "Who are you?" She took note of his muscled body, golden skin, and long black hair. He seemed nearly harmless, except for the array of weapons on his back and at his side.

"I am Mathayus, the last Akkadian," he said.

"Then what are you doing here?" Helenis asked. "If you're smart, you'll stay away from Memnon."

Mathayus smirked. "Then maybe I'm not smart. But, I know that Memnon killed my brother."

"Revenge doesn't do anything," she replied.

"I can't let him just get away with it without receiving a consequence for his action," Mathayus said defiantly.

The priestess, called a Minoan by the Akkadian assassin, rolled her eyes. "All right, get yourself killed then." She sighed and leaned against the overhang.

Mathayus' smirk turned into a grin. "I will."

~*~*~*~

Memnon frowned as he lost sight of the person that had been climbing down the mountain. "Where did they go?"

"Out to lunch, perhaps?" came a female voice.

The Lord turned to see his sorceress Cassandra walking towards him.

"I doubt that, but then again, who am I to doubt you?" Memnon replied.

Cassandra smirked. She watched Takmet for a moment. He was pacing across the sand, obviously disturbed. Cassandra walked over to him and gasped as his hand brushed against hers.

A dark-skinned man wearing gold… Takmet beneath his spear… A pleading female voice…

"Cassandra?" Memnon's voice said.

She shook herself out of the vision. "Yes, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up, that's all."

Memnon nodded slowly. He turned his gaze to Takmet, who was still pacing. He laughed and set a hand on Takmet's shoulder. The prince stopped in his tracks.

"Calm down, Takmet. There is nothing to worry about," Memnon said. "The guards will have that traitor, and all will be safe again."

Takmet sighed. "I'm not worried about safety. I worry about that Akkadian assassin. He escaped yesterday morning, you know."

"That fool won't get anywhere," Memnon replied simply. "Every one of my guards knows him by face. It is impossible for him to penetrate the walls of Gomorrah."

"I wouldn't count on that," Cassandra said. "Mathayus is resourceful. He'll find a way inside. And when he does, you can bet it'll be trouble."

Memnon merely laughed. "I know you can see the future, but sometimes I do wonder if you're sanity has gone, Cassandra."

Cassandra shook her head. "Wait and see, my lord. Your trouble with the Akkadian has yet to end."

~*~*~*~

Helenis watched Mathayus climb down the mountain and distract the guards. So that was his plan, she thought. She began to leave her perch when a feeling of premonition hit her. It was an instinct that she got from her training as a priestess. She looked down. The guards were gone, so why should she be worried? She ignored the strange hunch and continued down the mountain.

Once she reached the ground, she started towards the gates of Gomorrah. Before she could reach it, though, she felt a sword tip at her back.

A male voice spoke in a strange language, but Helenis caught the general meaning: She was in trouble.

~*~*~*~

Memnon stood up from his throne as Thorak walked in to the throne room, three guards following him. In the center of the group was a robed figure, their face hidden by a hood. The Lord grinned.

"Ah," he said. "You've caught him."

"Yes, Lord Memnon," Thorak said. "This is your assassin."

The robed figure was pushed forward onto the ground. Thorak pulled up the hood of the figure to reveal a woman's face. She had blonde hair and sharp green eyes that glared at Memnon. Her creamy complexion gave her the image of being harmless, but her expression said that there was more to her than that.

"A woman?" Memnon asked in slight disbelief. "My assassin is a woman?"

Cassandra rose from her seat. "She is not your assassin. She is a traveler from distant lands. And right now, she doesn't understand a word any of us say, because she doesn't speak the language of The Land of Two Kingdoms."

Memnon turned to Cassandra. "Then what language does she speak, my sorceress?"

"The language of Attica, I'm guessing," Cassandra replied. "She appears to be from the island of Crete."

"A Minoan," Memnon said.

The strange woman bristled as she recognized the word Memnon used.

Memnon smirked and turned back to his prisoner. "Where are you from, woman?" he asked in Greek.

"That I cannot tell you, for even I don't know. I was abandoned as a child," the woman answered in the same language.

The Lord nodded. "And, if you can remember, what is your name?"

"Helenis," she spat. She glared at Memnon.

Memnon laughed. "Well, Helenis, what brings you to Gomorrah, hmm? Was it the sights? The people? Or, did you wish stare at the face of the great Lord Memnon?"

Helenis continued to glare at him. "I wished to see how great of a fool this Memnon character would be. I see that he is an even greater fool than I had ever hoped for."

Memnon raised a hand brought the back of it hard against Helenis' face, leaving a large red mark where the contact had been made. "Never speak of me in that tone or in that manner. I could have you killed in a matter of seconds." He smirked. "In fact, I think I'll demonstrate that power now."

He nodded to Thorak. The guard unsheathed his sword and held it against Helenis' bare throat.

"Do you see my power now?" Memnon asked.

"Yes," Helenis reluctantly replied. She sighed as Thorak removed his sword and returned it to its decorated scabbard.

Memnon redirected his attention to his sorceress. "Cassandra, can you tell me what this woman's profession might be?"

"Hmm…" Cassandra studied Helenis for a moment, and then the answer came to her. "She is a priestess who learned from the prophet who resides in Delphi." She turned to Helenis. "Am I correct?"

Helenis nodded. "How could you tell?"

"You hold the same air that many priestesses from there do. Most of them, I am afraid, aren't much more than impostors," Cassandra said. "I hope you aren't the same way."

"The King of Mycenae would have killed me by now if I was the same as they," Helenis laughed. She smiled a bit, something she hadn't done since she was a child.

Cassandra nodded. "I thought as much."

Memnon cleared his throat. He switched his tongue to Egyptian, so Helenis wouldn't understand his words. "Cassandra, are you saying that she might be useful? If she is a true priestess, that is."

"She might be," the sorceress replied.

"All right, then. So, I can't kill her?" Memnon asked, a look of disappointment in his sharp eyes.

Cassandra grinned. "I am afraid not, my lord."

Memnon sighed and turned back to Helenis. "Your life is no longer in danger, Priestess Helenis. It seems that my sorceress believes you might be useful."

Then, the doors to throne room opened once again. This time they revealed Takmet and a couple of guards. Takmet walked past Helenis and to Memnon's side.

"Ah, Takmet," Memnon said. "Meet my 'assassin,' Helenis, the Minoan priestess."

Takmet turned and was surprised by Helenis' beauty. He had never seen a woman of her appearance before. Every woman he had seen was tan-skinned with black hair and black eyes. Helenis seemed to be their complete opposite. And how she could've ended up in a messy place like Gomorrah, Takmet would never know.

He took in a deep breath to cover his falter. "Your assassin is a woman?"

Helenis had been listening as Cassandra and Memnon (and even Thorak with his guards) had been talking, and she was quickly catching on to the language of The Land of Two Kingdoms. "I am not Memnon's assassin. I was observing the activity of Gomorrah when Memnon's guards mistook me for someone who could pose a threat to his life."

Memnon and Takmet both were surprised at how quickly Helenis had picked up on the Egyptian language. Cassandra wasn't; she knew that if Helenis was indeed the priestess she said she was, then she could easily learn any language she came across.

Takmet shook his head. "Well, I am sorry for falsely accusing you, Priestess Helenis."

Helenis simply glared at the prince.

"So, are you going to kill her?" Takmet asked Memnon.

Memnon frowned. "I am afraid my sorceress has advised against it."

"Then, if you shall allow me, I wish to prove if this priestess is worth keeping," Takmet replied with an evil grin on his lips.

The priestess looked outraged as Memnon nodded in approval. Her anger raged as the guards lifted her to her feet and guided her out of the throne room, to Takmet's chambers. A typical Gomorrah greeting, I suppose, she thought nastily.