The men hurried her along the corridors so fast Teana scarcely had time to breathe, let alone glance around. With her hands bound behind her and nothing to use as leverage, she concentrated on the rhythm of her feet and their movements, trying to memorize the twists and turns that came.
Despite Heishin's claim that the maze was endless, she knew the old man was a gifted liar. That meant the maze was far from endless, which meant if she played her cards right she could escape on her own—or at least buy time for the prince and Jono to arrive. The Mages would definitely be thrown off their game if they had to apprehend a fleeing captive.
Eventually they stopped at a large room, the hulking Labyrinth Mages releasing Teana with a lurch that made her sapphire necklace nearly fly off her neck. Annoyed at the rough treatment, she braced herself against a wall and spun around, but was cut short as Emperor Heishin himself stood in front of her, flanked by Priest Seto. Teana gulped; despite not wanting to be scared, the two sorcerers were the most powerful men in Egypt, and she knew what could happen if they felt like calling a Shadow Game.
With a wave of the emperor's gnarled hand three guards flanked them, with two moving to block the only exit. Teana's hopes of escaping started to evaporate, but that didn't mean she wouldn't fight back somehow.
Heishin stepped back to speak with his men, though his voice carried all through the room—doubtless a habit of public speaking he hadn't quite cured. "The preparations are complete. My Mages have secured the labyrinth; should they make any wrong move on their way here, another Mage will intercept and deliver them to the front of the maze."
He turned to Seto. "So you're aware, the correct route is—"
"Right, right, left, right! If I could figure that out with my hands behind my back there's no way they'll get it wrong," Teana crowed, earning an annoyed glare from the guards. When a soldier moved to quiet her, she kicked at his leg, but was prevented from acting further when Heishin, sighing in annoyance, aimed the Millennium Rod at her. Its mystical energies swept forth from the headpiece of the scepter and pinned Teana against the wall.
After a while Teana was released, but her limbs felt heavy, and she knew if she pushed things Heishin could do worse. She settled for glaring at him, but felt a glimmer of satisfaction that he'd resorted to magic so soon.
"Even with her hands tied the girl causes trouble," Heishin growled. "Seto, watch this one closely—I'll return once the Labyrinth Mages are stationed properly."
The High Mage-turned-Emperor stalked out of the room, followed by his guards, and Priest Seto was alone with Teana. She felt just as trapped, if not more so, than before.
"Did you really have to go to all that trouble just for a card game," Teana finally spat. "If you wanted to duel the prince that badly you could have asked instead of dueling Jono and kidnapping me."
"And what would the fun in that be," Seto sneered. He adjusted his hood with a soft chuckle, turning to face her. "Would you rather I dueled you instead? Ah, but your hands are tied, aren't they?"
Despite the situation Teana grinned; maybe she could play to his ego. "If you'd kindly untie me I'd show you how good I am at cards—Hey!"
She was cut off as Seto moved closer, taking her cards from her pocket and thumbing through them with feigned interest.
"Oh my. Orion the Battle King, Spirit of the Harp, and Gyakutenno Megami. Yes, I can certainly see how you'd be a match for Jono with these. When I dueled him to capture you he used the Red-Eyes Black Dragon against me—not that it helped, in the end. Your deck is twice as pathetic as his."
"Gee, maybe it's because I left my good deck on the mantle when your thugs broke in," Teana bristled. "How dare you disparage Jono and me like that!"
"Disparage," the priest mimicked, eyes narrowing to catlike slits. "I'm being as impartial as I can under the circumstances. My duel with Jono was fair—I used the weakest deck I had, and still victory was mine."
At that the girl smirked. "Funny. From what I remember the prince used his weakest deck, but he still beat you at that festival! And that was before we even knew he was the prince!"
Priest Seto broke into a laugh that made her blood run cold.
"Teana, you are a girl of contradictions! You support your friends and attack your enemies with equal ferocity, yet you can't see what's right in front of your eyes."
"And this necklace," Seto mused, lifting the sapphire blue stone with a hand and letting it fall. "Quite the bauble for a person of your station," he added with a barely concealed sneer. "Where did you get it, I wonder? Did your pest of a friend Jono steal it for you? Was it a gift from the palace servant girl, Fizdis, perhaps? Or," he said with a grin, "did your precious prince deliver it himself?"
Teana flushed at the last, and as the priest's grin grew wider, she stood up straighter, refusing to back down. "Don't talk about them like they're nothing to you!"
"Ah, but they are nothing to me. At most, they're insignificant specks who could never hope to win this war, let alone defeat me or Heishin in a duel."
"They're real people with real lives—lives that you and Heishin and the Mages disrupted!"
Seto continued as if he hadn't heard. "The only reason I asked," he said, taking a card from the folds of his cloak and holding it so she could see, "is that the jewel's coloring reminds me of the fabled Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon—the card that will surely spell the prince's demise."
Teana leaned closer, gasping at the dragon's astronomical power. 4500 Attack was stronger than any card she'd ever seen before, and its 3800 Defense was equally impressive. If she could, she'd warn him about how strong it was!
But the prince had beaten everything else Heishin had thrown at him, and Jono was as tough as they came; there was no way they'd fail now. She just had to believe in them, even if she had no idea how the prince could defeat such a strong monster.
Seto returned the card to his deck and pulled out a second deck, shuffling. Teana caught a glimpse of a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a Dark Magician, which made her brow arch in confusion—it made sense the priest would have more than one deck, but why would he choose one with weaker cards than what he'd just shown her? Was Seto just toying with the prince even now, even after kidnapping her to draw him out?
Something wasn't right here, and when Heishin returned Teana had a pretty good idea of what. She started as the emperor drew a concealed dagger, which he began to sharpen against the stone walls.
Heishin began to speak, but it was only until he put the weapon away that Teana could breathe again.
"Time grows short, Seto. The High Mages have sworn to protect the remaining Items, yet one still eludes us. If you can defeat the prince here, I will make you the keeper of his Puzzle. Its shadow powers shall be yours for all time!"
Seto nodded curtly, bowing before the emperor. "I thank you, my lord."
To anyone else Priest Seto would have sounded sincere, but Teana caught an edge to his tone that eclipsed the threat of the dagger, or even the Millennium Rod.
"Leave his life in my hands. You have my word that before this day is through, the power you seek will be ours."
Teana realized, for the first time, that she wasn't sure who was the power behind the throne.
But did it matter?
No matter who backstabbed who—literally or figuratively—the prince could defeat them.
Blue-Eyes or no Blue-Eyes, he'd find a way to win.
He had to.
For Teana knew, as did they all, that the game could only end in one of two ways.
Either the prince would set things right, or he'd die trying.