The moon was shining above the sands of the deserts. Tauret hid behind the palm trees of a nearby oasis, watching the young Pharaoh talk to the young girl, the magician's apprentice. Tauret was mesmerized by the sound of the Pharaoh's voice, how powerful and commanding it was at the same time that it was sweet, honest, and caring.
The Pharaoh no longer had parents, that much Tauret knew. The Pharaoh's father had died just the year prior, and his mother had died giving birth to him, not allowing her to be able to live on, to know and raise her son. The Pharaoh was young for this reason; he was forced to take the throne at an early age due to his parents' deaths.
Tauret raised her head as she heard a noise from behind her. Footsteps, maybe the galloping of horses being driven by their riders across the warm sands of the desert. She turned around. Nearly one hundred horses with cloaked riders, all of them dark brown with a black tail and a black mane. There was one horse in the front, however, that was notably different, and had a notably different rider.
This horse was black, with a white tail and a white mane. It's rider was not cloaked, as the horses' riders were, but clearly visible so everyone knew who they were looking at. Tauret knew his exactly who she was looking at, she didn't need to guess. She knew him, heart and soul.
His horse was in the front, farther ahead of the other horses and their riders. This man, this uncloaked man on a horse that looked drastically different from the other ones there behind him, was the leader of this group behind him. His title was Thief King; these people behind him were his army, and he was their commander.
He had that same tan that everyone else in all of Egypt had; there was no question that he was Egyptian. He had long white hair that went down to the middle of his back, unruly, hanging in front of his face, just a little. His eyes were the color of dirt, but that shade of brown looked somewhat majestic on him, even if he was a villain that Tauret had to pretend to hate.
He wasn't wearing much, just a wrapped cloth over his crotch, so he would at least be modest. Over his arms was a velvet red robe; the color made him incredibly majestic, so beautiful, so wonderful, that Tauret couldn't stop staring. It didn't help that he had a scar running down from the bottom of his left eye right down to his chin. It made him unbelievably handsome.
The horses stopped as soon as the Thief King's horse stopped. While the army stayed on their horses, the Thief King jumped off of his and approached Tauret. Tauret said nothing, but cowered in fear as the Thief King neared her. As the Thief King put a hand to Tauret's face, she winced.
"Shh," he coaxed, "I'm not going to hurt you."
He kissed her cheek, and Tauret opened her eyes. She started to look at the Thief King, who was smiling. She leaned in closer to him, but he leaned into her, and the two began to kiss on the mouth.
"Do you do this with every woman you've just met?", Tauret asked once he had pulled away from her.
"No, just you, Miss Tauret," the Thief King answered. "No girl I've ever met has ever been as beautiful as you."
Tauret began to blush.
"So, how will the Pharaoh come upon his demise tonight, my beautiful fortune teller?", the Thief King asked Tauret.
"My prediction says that he will not come upon his demise tonight. Another force, a force of nature will prevent it today. The raid, the battle itself, should wait until moonrise on the third night, in the fourth year," Tauret answered.
The Thief King stared at Tauret in disbelief. "The third night in the fourth year?! Have you lost your mind, Tauret?!"
He lifted her by her gown, up into the air. "Thief King Akefia Bakura," she said, addressing the Thief King by name, "my predictions have never been wrong. The third night of the fourth year at moonrise."
He dropped her. "You better be right," he warned.
She stood as she saw the Thief King charge forward, and the army followed him. That's when he saw the first drop.
Tauret saw it, too.
Then the second. The third, the fourth, and the fifth. Both the Thief King and Tauret lost count of all of the droplets falling from the sky, but they heard the horses go crazy. They started bucking their riders off of them, and running for the hills. The Thief King's horse was the first to rebel against it's owner, plunging him right into the oasis Tauret had been standing next to earlier.
He came up coughing. "So, maybe you were right.", he admitted.
"Your horses are forever lost, my darling Thief King," Tauret told him, "you'll have to get new ones. Remember, the third night of the fourth year at moonrise."
He nodded. Tauret walked off, trying to ignore the fact that the Thief King had taken off his robe and began to wade in the water. She loved the man, she really did, but he could be disgusting or vulgar at times. She couldn't deny much, the only person she had ever lied to was the Pharaoh, and she needed to.
Tauret not only loved the Thief King, she also worked for him. She was a fortune teller; this ability gave her easy entry into the Pharaoh's palace. Tauret was notably the Thief King's best spy, despite being the only one. This may have been the only reason the Thief King loved her.
She had to pretend to be afraid of him. No one would think she knew him, that she worked for him, that she... loved him, if she did that. Of course, she only dropped the act once the Thief King did. She didn't trust her own instincts. She could only trust the Thief King.
She nearly cried as she walked into the ruins of Kul Elna.
She examined the ruins, piece by piece, bit by bit. She didn't like coming here, but she knew what she was doing. She eventually saw the ruins of the small house of the Thief King. She lifted a large piece of broken wall without effort; she had done this many times before. She had lost count of how many times she had come here, to Kul Elna, to the Thief King's destroyed home.
Maybe it was because she had hope. She had hope that she would one day find what she was looking for. She had lifted and thrown away so many pieces of rubble, and yet, it was still gone. So many days, so many weeks, so many months. How hard was it? Apparently, extremely. That's when Tauret saw it.
A faint gleaming of silver.
She ran over to it. It was near the ruins of the house of the Thief King, it was possible that the ruins it came from were a part of the Thief King's home. She threw the rubble everywhere, using her remaining strength to grab onto the rope and end up with the small charm at the end of it.
It was possible to open the charm; it was clear that you could if you were able to see the small hinge on one of the sides of it. Tauret wanted to run right back to the palace and give it to the Thief King, but she was frightened that he would not be there, and that it would be lost. In an effort to protect it, Tauret slipped it around her neck.
It would stay there until she saw the Thief King next. She wanted to make sure he got it. But, she still couldn't believe it. She had been searching for months, nearly a year, and was about to give up, then she found it, exactly what she was looking for. It was a miracle. And, soon, the Thief King would know about, and share this miracle, along with Tauret.
She had finally found his mother's locket.
She woke up, slowly and calmly. She quickly checked to see if the locket was still around her neck. It was, and because of this, she breathed out a sigh of relief. She knew that she could find the Thief King under the streets, because, it was possible to build homes and shelters underneath deserts.
Of course, pyramids and tombs were built underground; Egyptians were known for being able to build incredible structures, but Tauret found everything underground the most interesting. These were the only thoughts running through her mind on her way to see the Thief King, and it was more than likely she would walk too far.
She was so lost in thought because she simply could not understand how her people were able to keep the sands under control while digging. If they were to breathe in too much dust or sand, it could kill them. The Egyptians were either very clever, or many lives were sacrificed in order to build those underground structures. She found them even more amazing than the pyramids, mostly because she had seen a pyramid's construction before.
It had taken just about twelve people just to pick up one of those gigantic bricks that were on the top of the pyramid. She had witnessed the entire pyramid being built, and she didn't like the fact that the bottom bricks took almost thirty to forty people; she thought that the Egyptian people were being exhausted just to build them. She also felt that she had witnessed three hundred sixty seven too many deaths on it's construstion.
She never watched pyramid construction again.
This was mostly because one of the people who was building that pyramid was the Thief King. This was how she met him. She had freed him from slavery, and it took the Egyptian court a lot of convincing from the Pharaoh not to have her imprisoned for her deed.
She was eventually deemed a hero, but she was also ordered not to free anymore slaves. She promised that she would never do anything of the sort, ever again. And she had kept her promise since that day. The Thief King, however, had never escaped her mind.
When the Thief King had seen Tauret again, he thanked her, and asked to become her friend. She said that she felt honored, and that she would gladly accept. The Thief King had been so happy that day, he had kissed Tauret right on the mouth, and she had no objection to it. That was the start of their relationship. He later came to Tauret, asking for her to become a part of his spy team.
There would never be any other spies, because Tauret was the only person the Thief King knew who was able to get into the palace. After the Pharaoh had pardoned her for her 'crimes', he became good friends with Tauret, and that gave her entry into the palace whenever she wished.
She enjoyed being in the company of the Pharaoh, both he and Tauret herself found one another fun, but Tauret enjoyed the company of the Thief King much more, being in love with him. He loved her, too, and Tauret knew (because the Thief King had told her this, once) that he had regretted making her a spy, because he didn't like her being so far away from him so often.
The only reason he didn't change her job is because she was good at her given job, and the Thief King found her as useful as she was loving and beautiful, but he did love her more than he used her. He didn't like to use Tauret as a tool, but he was comfortable with using anyone else as one. Tauret had expressed her wishes for equality to the Thief King, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fulfill her requests.
Tauret looked up from the ground. She had, indeed, gotten so lost in thought that she had walked straight past the spot that would've taken her into the secret lair of the Thief King. She turned around, but was amazed at how the thought of where the Thief King's lair was located took her all the way to the beginning of their relationship and her life as a spy.
She carefully walked to the lair's secret entrance, keeping her mind blank, other than her destination.
"Thief King?"
Tauret carefully went down the steps, as she knew that they were fragile. As she put her foot onto one, it broke, and she went down. She screamed; the fall was so far down, she knew that this fall would mean her end. But, she suddenly felt two arms wrap around her and catch her.
"Tauret! Are you alright?!"
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I'm just fine, my King," she answered.
He smiled, but quickly gasped. "My mother's locket," he said, his voice reduced to a whisper out of shock.
She nodded, taking the necklace off of her neck and slipping it onto the Thief King's. "Days. Days and weeks. Days and weeks and months. Almost a year, Akefia. Then, finally, last night, a faint gleam of silver. I knew I had found it, then," she told him.
He kissed her. "I can't thank you enough."
She hugged him. "I love you, so much."
They woudn't stop hugging. They couldn't help it. It was love. That was love. Tauret felt warmth flow through her body. The pair only stopped hugging one another when Akefia lifted Tauret into his arms and kissed her.
Tauret drifted into half-consciousness.