V.E.: Well here's my second piece of blueshipping/mizushipping out the door. This is also the first time I'm doing a proper story about Kisara and Priest Seto. How I came up with this idea, I can't necessarily remember. I remember I wasn't fond of my Thief in the Night idea, it sounded too generic and typical for stories on this sight. I think it was when I was reading the manga Red River, about a girl from Tokyo ended up in Mesopotamia, and Ouke no Monshou, about an American ending up in Egypt though not nearly as good as the former.
I thought about maybe doing a modern thing like that, but I kind of scrapped that at the moment. So I think those mangas led me to think about Kisara being revered as a goddess with her unusual looks. Granted that caused a lot resentment in the memory world. So how would Kisara have been seen as divine? If she had a connection to the Egyptian royal family.
Anyway, you can hardly say this is unoriginal compared to the stories you've seen before.
Of course, this first chapter isn't about that. It's about her arriving in the capital city. I don't see a reason to write about the night she escaped from her captors since we already know about it.
If you want my version, read my oneshot The White Dragon's Past.
Alright, here's to the hopes that this is liked!
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. Well I will own an OC that will come up eventually, but that's beside the point. I might change the rating, depending how this story goes.
"So this is the capital city."
Kisara shifted on her horse as the brown steed trotted into the city limits carefully, the first lights of dawn just beginning to show.
Her blue eyes darted around, taking in everything she was seeing. It certainly was different from the other settlements of people she had seen. Never had she seen something so big! Most of it what she saw was the houses on the outskirts of town, but she could see more impressive building towards the center in the distance. One in particular, was really grand looking. Luckily, there didn't seem to be many people out at the moment. After traveling two whole days through the desert, she had finally come to the place that boy had spoken of.
Seto.
She couldn't help, but feel some guilt associated with the name. If he hadn't saved her, his village would still be standing. She knew about it through the connection she had to the beast inside her.
Still he had helped her, allowing her to escape in order to go back to her country.
At that thought, she felt herself sigh as she got off her horse. The problem with that was that she didn't know the way home. She was well aware she was far south of where she originally had come from, but beside that knew nothing.
Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the small well nearby. She led her horse by the reins to it. Next to it, was a small pot of sorts. She picked it up, reaching down fully to get the water.
After drawing it up, she held it out to her horse who drank eagerly. Despite being thirsty herself, she knew the horse should have some first. She repeated that process with the well until her furry companion was satisfied.
Then she took one of her hands through the pottery, scooping water with her hand to her mouth. She sipped the water carefully, going against her instincts to just dump it over her head. Even though it was early in the day, she knew it was going to be a hot one. It was a habit she picked up being this country for so long, though she was still not used to the heat.
Though despite the temperature, she was surprised on how her skin stayed as white as the day she was captured. Most slaves often tanned as they were hauled from place to place in the blistering sun.
After she felt the cool liquid slide down her throat, she put the jug back where she had found it. Now that one need was taken care of, she needed to figure out a solution to a problem. Traveling for months had made her aware of how much she stood out in appearances.
Her slavers had bought her because of her unusual looks, hoping they could get a good price for her. She heard enough of the stories to know she would have ended up some rich man's play thing.
So how was she going to keep herself from being spotted? Someone was bound to notice her.
Her eyes searched around, just to make sure that no one saw her right now when her eyes became focused on a bundle of rags down one of the allies.
Then she got an idea.
The seller's grin was broad as he led away the brown horse to the back.
"Thank you for your business!"
Kisara only nodded in response, keeping the dark rags covering most of her skin as possible. She was vaguely aware of the bag of coins in her hand.
After disguising herself in the dark clothes, Kisara waited for a short while for people to emerge from their homes. She stopped one to ask where she could sell the horse she had and they had pointed her out to the place she currently stood.
She dislike the idea of selling the horse, but she knew very well she couldn't have kept him. She could barely take care of herself at the moment, let alone a horse.
I'm sorry my friend. I would have liked to have returned you to your master, but I'm not entirely certain whether I will ever see him again. You'll be happier where you are.
Plus, now at least she could buy something to eat if she wanted to. At the same time, she knew by the weight of the bag that she probably wasn't paid enough money a she ought to have been. But it was a rather hurried sale and she didn't want the seller to pay a lot of attention to her.
Finally, she willed her legs to move through the bustling crowds of the city. Even as people brushed beside her, she tried to make herself as small as possible. Trying to keep herself hidden was something she needed to do if she was walking in daylight.
She was right about her earlier feelings of the day, it was a scorcher. The bright sun beamed down and she was certainly feeling it because her rags were seemed to drawing the attention of the heat.
However, the brown clothes were giving her the anonymity she desired. No one seemed to bother her a second glance so long as they were unaware of what she truly looked like.
There were so many people here, all hurrying to get to their own destination. No one had time to bother with a raggedy cloaked girl.
The aromas of the cooking food wafted through the air, she stopped to smell them. Her stomach let out a treacherous growl. Her head tilted to glare down.
Not now, I'll get something later.
She looked back up to take in more of the strange market place around her. There was everything here: pottery, jewelry, and once more she was drawn to the many stalls of food.
She felt her face grimace. Maybe she should reconsider her previous thought.
Then her eyes widened as she saw people hauled through the market place with chains. She felt herself grow cold, despite the heat, as she knew exactly where they were going. The slave market.
She hurriedly turned herself away, darting through the crowd as skillfully as she could, keeping a tighter grip on the thing that covered her.
But she was stopped as she found people had stopped down a street. The sandy pathway was parted for someone to come through. The question being, who?
She slowly turned to a spectator next to her.
"Excuse me, but what is going on?"
The older woman being asked looked at her in disbelief.
"You must be a foreigner girl, the Pharaoh's procession is about to pass by this way."
Kisara's eyes lit up in understanding. Ah yes, she had heard that the Pharaoh was the title for the ruler of this country. She had heard enough about politics of this country through her unwilling travels.
She went further down the line as her eyes caught sight of the king approaching.
He was a man in his mid-years by Kisara' estimation. Tall, stern, and proud even though she could barely see his face. He was born up on a litter with several servants. His robe was the deepest purple Kisara had ever seen, stitched most elaborately. She could also see the unusual crown in which he donned himself, white with the head of a snake watching him.
Kisara looked at him and knew this was not the god that she had heard about it. This was a man, a mortal man that ate, breathed, and could die just as any person. Where had the people who had kept her got the notion he was a god?
The people around her, on the other hand, seemed to miss what she saw. They were whipped into a frenzy on seeing their king.
"PHARAOH! PHARAOH!"
The pharaoh took all this in with a stride, waving to his subjects. This seemed to make them more excited as the cheering was growing louder.
It struck Kisara as the perfect chance to slip away undetected. No one was watching her and even someone did catch a glimpse of her skin, they would dismiss it and turn their attention back to the pharaoh.
But as she began to move her legs, they weren't moving in the direction towards the allies. Instead, she seemed like she was being carried in the direction of the procession.
For a moment, she was marveling at what she was doing. She tried to tell her feet to go elsewhere, but then she felt a nudge in her mind.
Her Amma had spoken of just knowing things. This was one of the closest times Kisara could say she knew what she meant. There was just this…feeling. Not so much for the pharaoh, but of anticipation of something.
And for some reason, Kisara got the feeling it was a bad something.
So she let her own body react without her mind as she felt herself continue the trek with the procession. Just as she thought, many people in the crowd were caught up in their king.
Eventually, after some time in walking, the procession came upon the grand building she had seen earlier in the day. It seemed to gleam in gold with obelisks towering and the grand gates.
She felt herself in awe of the spectacle.
So this is the palace!
She darted her eyes to find that the procession had stopped and would go no further towards the palace. That made sense as commoners would not be welcome in the house of the one they would deem to be their god.
The litter was moving closer to the gates, but Kisara could not help but feel the sense of unease grow stronger. Her eyes darted around, finally stopping at the top of the gates.
Then they widened as she realized. Someone was up there, where there were no guards. There were some to make sure the people didn't get too close to the pharaoh on the ground, but there didn't seem to be any up there.
Her eyes narrowed in the direction of the figure, curious as to what was going on.
Then she saw it. Movement as the figure drew out a bow, steadying it. As if getting ready to shoot.
She saw the figure draw an arrow, concentrating hard upon something.
Her eyes went cold as she realized the intended target.
The grip was ready to fly.
Her voice cried out before she could help it.
"LOOK OUT!"
That got the pharaoh's attention who seemed to heard her despite the cheers of the crowd. In that moment, the two's eyes met; amethyst purple against lapis lazuli blue.
Then he followed as her eyes changed direction towards the tower.
He just managed to avoid the arrow as he got out of his seat and to the side.
This turn of events prompted panic in the crowd. Most were scrambling to get away, in awe and fear that someone would dare to try and assassinate the pharaoh.
The dark figure hurried away, trying so badly not to get caught. Only to be found by the guards down the stairs who responded to the cries outside.
Unlike the rest of the people who were going crazy, Kisara was frozen still for some odd moments. She could only watch the pharaoh surrounded by his guards and what seemed to be a couple of people in his personal inner court. In particular, an old man with grey hair peeping out his purple covering and a man in a white hood.
Finally, she snapped out of her mood and turned to get away.
Well, so much for conspicuous.
She tried to hurry away, but then she felt her hand grabbed. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free.
She turned around to find that it was a palace guard with several of his colleagues there. And they were all giving her a rather skeptical look.
"And where do you think you're going, girl?"
V.E.: For an introduction chapter, this is pretty short. I promise you the next one will be longer.
Please check out my poll.
Also, Review!