Princess Trinity laid in her bed listening to her brother, the pharaoh,
as he walked down the hall and talked with Sera, the head priest's
younger sister, about her day. He had a fixation for Sera and was always
looking forward to their nightly chat. But tonight, like most nights, it
was more than just your usual tete-a-tete. Tonight, like most nights,
Sera had a goal to reach. She needed to keep the Pharaoh entertained
until he fell asleep. This would give the princess time to sneak out of
the palace. Trinity often sneaked out of the palace late at night in
order to get away from her brothers and their annoying rules.
Since she was the youngest of five children, and the only girl, she often
got a little more protection than she felt was necessary. These facts
also ended up making her the pharaoh's favorite sibling, which brought
her to be next in line for the throne in three years when she turned
twenty.
She was about to get up out of bed when she heard Seto, the head priest,
run past her door in order to catch up with his sister and the pharaoh.
"Ah, Seto," the pharaoh's deep voice became louder as Seto's fast
footsteps slowed on the granite tiles of the corridor outside the
princess' room. "I've been meaning to have a word with you." Trinity saw
Seto's shadow lean on the Pharaoh's for support as he caught his breath.
"How is Trinity doing in her lessons? Has she continued to move along
like before?"
"Yes Atem, she soaks up any and all information like a little mop. In her
magic lessons she's about to leave Sera in the dust." Atem chuckled as
the three of them walked further down the foyer.
"My next question, is how is she faring in comparison to you, Seto?"
"I've been meaning to talk with you about that," Sera's voice was quiet.
She had been helping her brother with the magic lessons, "You may need to
get her a new tutor."
"Why is that?" Both the Pharaoh and the head priest spoke up this time.
The young ruler sounded amused. Seto sounded a little upset.
"Because, your highness, your sister passed up my brother ages ago." Atem
burst into peals of laughter.
"Is this true, Seto?" asked the Pharaoh as he began to calm down.
"Not completely, Atem. You see, while her power level may be higher than
mine, there is still much that I can teach her." The trio continued down
the hall.
Trinity waited for a few more minutes before finally getting up out of
her bed. She was still dressed in the olive, silk, hooded tunic that she
had worn to dinner earlier that evening. It was old and it didn't look
like much anymore and her brothers always gave her a hard time when she
wore it, but it was the most comfortable piece of clothing she owned. It
was especially nice on these balmy summer nights. It was also the easiest
to move around in, which made it her favorite for sneaking around in.
She reached down to where her sandals were, put them on, and pulled up
her hood, putting most of her face in shadows. Then she walked over to
her doorway and stuck her head outside to check if the coast was clear
before closing the heavy, wooden door. Next she walked over to the woven
silk tapestries across the room from her bed on the wall to the right
side when she walked into the main chamber of her rooms. She lifted one
of the hanging pictures and walked through the hidden doorway that lay
behind it. About two minutes later, she returned for the candle that she
kept by her bed. It was lilac scented and was supposed to help her fall
asleep, instead, it, just like Sera would help her escape tonight. She
walked back through the door and down the stairwell just past it. She
followed the passage down below the dinning hall, through the prison cell
block and down to the kitchens. She waited in the shadows as the cooks
finished cleaning up. After they left, Trinity grabbed a piece of fruit,
and crept quietly out the back door and into the still, quiet night.
She closed the door behind herself and began to walk quickly towards the
village. It took her all of five minutes to reach her destination. By now
it was close to midnight and most of the streets were now deserted.
She stopped for a break when she reached the fountain in the center of
the town square. She looked up into the clear, star-filled sky and
thought of the myths Seto and Sera had told her during her breaks in
between her lessons.
"And the queen was placed among the stars in the heavens by the angered
gods," she said, reciting the phrase in perfect Eckonese as she looked up
at the different constellations. Seto and her brothers would have been
proud of how quickly she had come to learn such a difficult language. It
had taken Sera years to come half as far as Trinity had, while it had
only taken Trinity a little less that one year to pretty much dominate
the whole concept of it. As she stood there a light breeze began to blow
Trinity's long black hair about her face.
She also took these walks to get away from Seto and his annoying
flirtations. She had enjoyed the attention a couple of years ago, but now
that she was older, she found it to be quite an aggravation.
She continued to stare up at the stars. They always seemed to captivate
her with their mysterious beauty. They reminded her of the ring that Seto
had given her for her last birthday. She smiled to herself as she thought
of Seto. As much as she had grown to dislike Seto for his arrogance, she
was thankful for the things he had taught her. She was happy to know more
than three of her older brothers and for that she respected him.
However she could never get over how different the head priest and
priestess were. They were like night and day. She could understand her
brother liking Sera like he did, but being friends with a dolt like Seto,
that was a little beyond her comprehension. With that thought in her
head, Trinity smiled. Right now that idiot of a priest thought she was
safe in bed, and her brothers, especially Atem, would never have guessed
that precious, innocent, little Sera helped their little sister run away
almost every single night.
Suddenly her smile turned to shock. Her back erupted in pain as someone
slashed her three times in her upper back, up by her shoulders. Then they
covered her mouth to keep her from screaming.
"Try anything funny..." the voice she heard from next to her ear was cold
and rough, and it left an icy lump in the pit of her stomach. Then she
felt the warm, wet blade of the knife slid slowly across her neck. She
winced as her own tepid blood trickled slowly down her neck and then down
her chest staining her tunic and making it turn brown. She panicked and
began to claw at the hand that covered her mouth, but stopped moving when
the dagger pressed harder against her throat. "I mean it, lady, no funny
stuff. Just hand over any gold you have and I won't hurt you any more
than I already have." He laughed coldly as he held her against him. At
that moment, off in the shadows of a narrow side alley, Trinity heard
some heavy footsteps. Her attacker began to panic. "Who's there?" he
called out nervously into the darkness, "show yourself or she gets it!"
Trinity whimpered loudly as the dagger suddenly pressed even closer,
making it hard for the princess to breathe.
"Let the girl go, Bane." a new voice came from over by where she'd heard
the footsteps. This voice was calmer than Bane's, and a little bit
deeper.
Trinity began to feel faint from the loss of blood. As she began to slip
into unconsciousness, she could barely distinguish the features of the
newcomer as he stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the full
moon in the village square. She slumped against her attacker out of pure
exhaustion. She also had a pounding headache due to lack of blood to her
brain.
"I know you heard me, Bane," the newcomer looked over at her assailant,
crossed his arms, and began to glare fiercely at Bane, "Let her go, now."
"You want her so bad? Fine, catch." Trinity felt her body being shoved
into the arms of her rescuer, and then she heard the quick footsteps as
Bane took off into the shadows. The last thing Trinity remembered was
hearing her deliverer mumble something about respect for young women as
he took her up in his arms and began to walk away from the now deserted
square.
When Trinity finally had the strength to open her eyes, she found herself
on her stomach, on a beat up old bed mat, in a small, dimly lit house.
The back of her tunic was ripped open from collar to waist, and someone
was gently bathing her wounds. She winced as they rubbed a soft,
sterilized cloth over her cuts. The person stopped momentarily when they
felt her move. Trinity closed her eyes and remained quiet. The person
continued cleaning the gashes that covered her shoulders. They worked
more gently, applying as little pressure as possible to the upper part of
her back. A few minutes later, Trinity whimpered involuntarily as the
cloth rubbed one of her cuts wrong.
"Sorry," she heard the person say softly as they began working on the
already drying blood that had run down to her lower back, leaving a
drying brown stain on the tunic that she wore. "I didn't mean to hurt
you. Are you alright?" Trinity nodded slightly but said nothing. This was
no doubt the young man who had saved her from that Bane guy. The voice
was unmistakable even though it was much softer this time. The person
stopped working again, this time to clean out the blood on the rag that
he was using. Trinity took this opportunity to turn herself over onto her
elbows so that she could get a look at him. He had saggy, white-blonde
hair that came down to his mid back, and he had mysterious yet warm dark
brown eyes. He looked to be about twenty-four years old, maybe twenty-
five, if you pushed it a little. He had a very feint scar on his right
cheek up near his eye, and in Trinity's mind, he was quite handsome. He
smiled kindly at her and helped her turn back over so that he could
finish with her wounds.
"What's your name?" She asked him quietly. She cringed again as her
deliverer continued with the task at hand. Once again he stopped, this
time as if he were thinking about what to tell her. He "hmmmed" and
sighed a little before saying anything else to answer her question.
Finally he spoke.
"I don't really like to give out my name..."
"I won't tell anyone," Trinity cut in like the knife that had carved into
her earlier that evening, "I promise I won't. If I told anyone about any
of this, I'd have to tell my big brothers about my little late night
exertion. By doing that I would land myself with enough punishment to
break down a pack-mule." She rolled back over onto her elbows so she
could look him in the eyes. He sighed deeply and looked down into her
innocent face. After a few minutes he spoke up.
"My name's Bakura," he told her as he began cleaning up the
bloodstained rags. Trinity sat up slowly and stared up at him, watching
him as he stirred something in an iron pot hanging over the fire pit.
"The tomb robber? The one that Priest Seto has been after for the past
two years?" She asked in amazement. Bakura looked back around at her
with a look of concern etched onto his smooth, young, face. He nodded
mutely as Trinity continued to talk. Trinity saw the look and quickly
changed her train of thought. "Don't worry," She told him softly "I'm not
going to tell him about any of this, alright? It's not like I would tell
that pompous ass anyway. It's just, wow," Bakura's concern turned to
relief and he let out a sigh of relief as the princess continued to
speak. "All that idiot priest does is flirt with me when his sister isn't
around to reprimand him. That's one of the many reasons I sneak out at
night, it's so I can get away from him."
"So you know Seto personally then?" asked Bakura. Trinity nodded sadly
and looked down at her feet.
"Yeah, he's my brother's best friend." She looked back up at him just in
time to see his eyes widen in panic. He had just now very quickly put two
and two together and had gotten an answer that really scared him. Even
the peasants knew that the head priest and the Pharaoh were very close
and even that they considered each other to be family. If this girl was
telling the truth, then that meant that she was the princess. Bakura
quickly looked down at his feet.
"Is some thing wrong, Bakura?" Trinity craned her neck so that he would
look her in the eyes. "Was it something I said? Did I offend you in some
way, If I did, please forgive me, I didn't mean to."
"You... you're the... Princess?!" was all the poor thief could get out due
to all his shock. He stared down at the now shrinking figure in front of
him. Trinity's eyes fell to the floor.
"I guess I should've mentioned that." She said quietly with a sheepish
little laugh.
"Then why didn't you?" he asked a bit roughly and he ended up startling
the girl in front of him, "Did you think I was dumb enough to just march
you right back to the palace, just hoping I don't get seized because I
brought you back somewhat unharmed. Hoping that they take your word that
I didn't slash you open myself? Listen to me, I am a well known thief,
Princess, your little priest wouldn't have second thoughts on arresting
me if I were to show up there even with you by my side."
"Actually," she began as she looked up at him with guilt in her eyes,
"that's exactly what I thought you would do." She looked back down at the
floor in shame. "I guess I'm just a little over protective when it comes
to my freedom."
Bakura rubbed his temples in utter frustration.
"So who are you?" He asked her as he tried to gather his thoughts.
"I am the youngest of six siblings and the only girl." She began to
answer his question, "I am the Pharaoh's favorite and next..." Bakura cut
her off in mid sentence.
"I meant, your highness, what is your name?" he asked her impatiently, as
he continued to rub his temples.
"Oh, you want to know my name. It's Trinity. My friends, friend, calls me
Trin, but please call me either one, I hate formalities." She looked up
at him and smiled.
"So tell me, your highness, is this a habit for you? Running around in a
village at night with no guard to help protect you. Do you understand
that that man, Bane, would have killed you tonight if I hadn't come
around? And if he hadn't he would have left you in much worse shape than
your in right now. Believe me princess, a few slashes in the back are
light for what he usually does to unsuspecting young people like you. And
young girls are his favorite targets." Trinity looked down at her feet as
Bakura's voice got slightly louder. Tears began to form like tiny
diamonds in her violet eyes. She looked back up into Bakura's face and
spoke in a wavering voice. Bakura's expression softened as he looked
back down at her.
"Why are you yelling at me? You're not one of my brothers, and I haven't
done anything to hurt you, so why are you yelling at me?" Bakura smiled
at her.
"First of all, I'm not yelling at you and I'm sorry if I frightened you
by raising my voice. Second of all, in a way you have put me in a
position where I could be in a lot of danger, which brings me to number
three, which is the fact that I'm just a little bit paranoid about what
the hell I'm going to do with you..."
"You didn't have to help me; you could've just let him kill me..." Bakura
just shook his head.
"No Princess, I couldn't. I may be a thief, but I'm not cold and
heartless like others may lead you to believe."
"You could just let me go home..." Trinity suggested as she looked out the
window up into the night sky.
"Not in the condition you're in, your highness. But if I try to take you
up there myself, I'm sure your guards that you have at the gates will end
up fighting over who gets to turn me in to the head priest. They would
probably be thinking, 'Whoopee, double pay tonight, maybe even a
promotion, Palace life here I come.' He's not going to think, 'Well, the
princess says he helped her, maybe he did save her life, maybe I should
give him a chance,' what do you think princess?" Trinity smiled up at him
and placed her arms around his neck and gave him a quick kiss on the
cheek just below his scar. Bakura smiled to himself as she pulled away.
"I think I would have to tell my guard that no matter what Seto has told
them, that I'll have any of their heads if they even look like they're
even thinking of trying to capture you, and I'll tell Seto myself that if
he tries to have you captured that I'll have his head as well." She
smiled at him as she leaned into him for support. She was beginning to
feel faint again. Bakura noticed this, picked her up, and placed her
back on the mat. As he did this, she curled up against him, resting her
head against his shoulder.
"You go ahead and rest your highness..." he stopped talking as the princess
began to laugh at his uneasy attitude, "What is it?" He asked her.
"Why is it so hard for you to call me by my name?" She asked him, "I
already told you, my name is Trinity, not your highness, and not
princess. So please, call me by my name."
"Anyway, Trinity," Bakura sort of cut in at this point in the
conversation with a small smile on his face. "Like I just said, you go
ahead and rest for right now, I'll wake you up just before dawn so that
we can get you back up to the palace before anyone wakes up." Trinity
reached over and put her hand inside Bakura's and looked into his dark
brown eyes.
"Oh, and Bakura," Trinity began in a very sleepy voice, as she covered
her mouth for a yawn, "Will you please stay with me while I sleep?"
Bakura looked down into her amethyst eyes, squeezed her hand gently,
and nodded.
As she slept, Bakura realized how alike the two of them were. Both of
them were rebels in their own way, and like him, she just wanted someone
that she felt would understand her, someone outside the palace group that
she usually hung out with. Besides that, now that he was spending more
time thinking about it, the idea of having the princess around, he was
starting to calm down a bit, and the thought of her running away seemed
almost comical. By now, someone in the palace was probably going insane
looking for her when he knew she was safe right here in front of him,
sleeping like a perfect little angel. And what an angel she seemed to be,
what with her willing to forgive his criminal record like she had.
At one point in the night Bakura began to doze, but was quickly brought
to by the princess screaming loudly in her sleep. She began to swing her
fist around and one of them came in contact with Bakura's jawbone as he
tried to wake her. Finally she woke and latched on to him, crying into
his shoulder. She was crying so hard that Bakura could barely
understand her.
"The priests, they came, and... and they murdered my brother. Even Seto.
I...I tried to help him, but something held me back so that I couldn't.
Seto said that they were doing it for... for me so that I wouldn't have to
wait so long to become queen of Numokia." Bakura held her quietly and
rocked back and forth as he tried to calm the frantic girl.
"Shh... It was just a nightmare, it's not real." He buried his face in her
long soft hair. Then she pulled away just enough to look him in the eyes.
"It won't really happen will it Bakura? Those creeps won't really kill
Atem, right?" Tears still shone in her wine colored eyes.
"No Trinity. I don't think you have anything to worry about." He smiled
down at her as he racked his brain for something to say that would
possibly ease her mind. "What I mean is, Seto cares about your brother
very much. They're best friends for crying out loud. And anyway, Seto
would rather kill himself before he'd do anything to even possibly hurt
you in any way, shape, or form." Trinity looked at Bakura with a
confused look on her face. Bakura continued quickly. "I've been in the
palace and at times have seen how he acts around you. Personally I think
he needs to set his hopes a little lower." Trinity smiled and then hugged
closer to him.
"Well that good to know. The whole damn palace has tried to get him to
back off of me, including three of my older brothers, Nubious, Raman, and
Aaron, and Seto's younger sister, Sera. My youngest brother, Atem, he
thinks it's just so cute that his best friend likes his little sister.
Once, a few months ago, He even suggested that I consider his marriage
proposal." Bakura laughed and pretended to gag. Trinity laughed at the
face he was making. She calmed down a little as Bakura put his hand
gently on her on her shoulder and pulled her closer. Trinity wrapped her
arms around his torso and buried her face into his chest. "Bakura," she
pulled away and looked back up into his face, "How old are you?" He
looked at her with a surprised look on his face.
"Why?" He asked her as his expression changed to one of confusion.
"I was just wondering, is it alright that I asked? I was just wondering..."
Trinity smiled up at him sweetly. He smiled back at her.
"Okay, okay, I'll be twenty in five days. And you? How old are
you?" He asked her with a sly grin. He was really beginning to like the
girl. She might be young but she knew when to mature.
