Sorry I forgot about this fic for a while. Well, a long while. I kept meaning to update it, but… yeah. Very sorry, and thank you for all the reviews. I hope you don't all hate me for taking so long…
Disclaimer, see last chapter.
Enjoy!
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The boy opened his eyes on a world of pain. "The lights! Turn out the lights!" he cried, the brightness of the burning oil too much for his eyes, which were used to the darkness of sleep.
Obediently, the lights faded and died, and he opened his eyes on near-darkness. "Thank you. Did I …did I have another attack?"
"Yes, my pharaoh. It was caused, this time."
"Who by?"
"The slave at Bastet's temple. The boy-child. Surely you remember?"
"Now you remind me… I do, yes. Yugi, I think. Did you kill him?" The pharaoh sat up in his silken bed, searching the darkened room for the man who was speaking.
"No, pharaoh. On your orders, we stopped. Bastet also intervened." The kneeling guard slid slowly into focus as the boy's eyes adjusted to the darkness.
"Where is he? That boy was as full of light magic as I've ever seen anyone. Fetch him. Now."
Sangath bowed and left. Sighing, the boy-pharaoh lay down. He was exhausted. Those attacks always took it out of him. His physicians told him it was the effect of the overload of shadow magic on his body, but he suspected different. He suspected poison.
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A few minutes later-
The slave boy entered in bare feet, and a light cotton toga embroidered with the cat symbol worn by Bastet's priests and slaves. The toga was adorned with dust, sand, and cat hair, but there were no food stains. His ivory skin was just as tidy. He obviously took pains to keep himself clean.
Yugi knelt, casting his eyes to the floor in subservience, unknowing as to why he had been summoned from the dungeons where he had spent the last night. "My pharaoh, I am truly sorry for the offence I caused you yesterday. I wait for your judgement on how I shall be punished."
The pharaoh gave no judgement, only said to Sangath, who had entered behind the slave-boy, "Leave. I wish to speak with him alone."
"My pharaoh, he already tried to kill you once…" He trailed off as the older boy glared at him. From eyes of ruby wine, glares like that were truly impressive.
"I said leave." The words were not shouted, rather, they were almost whispered, but in such a menacing tone that Sangath backed out of the room without protest.
"Come here. I wish to speak with you." The boy shuffled closer on his knees. "Not like that. Stand up, and look me in my eyes."
Yugi shivered. The pharaoh had almost got him killed once, and he really, as in really, really, didn't want to look into his eyes.
However, he couldn't disobey a direct order. Slowly he rose off his knees, and tilted his head upwards, then looked the pharaoh straight in the eyes.
"That's better. Now, you were accused of harming me, yesterday, in Bastet's temple. You did not harm me, I know that for a fact." While the pharaoh was saying this, he climbed out of bed, and walked round Yugi, inspecting him.
"I called you here not to punish you, but to ask you something. I believe you have a gift, the gift of light magic. It happens to one in thousands, and I may be mistaken. I don't think that I am, though. When I touch you, I feel a tingling, as the shadow magic in my body mixes with the light magic in your body."
"To prove my suspicions, I want you to tell me something. Look at my body."
Yugi did so, then flushed a bright red when he realised that the pharaoh was entirely naked. "What's wrong? There shouldn't be…" then he realised the absence of clothes on his body. "No matter. It makes no difference. In my veins, you should be able to see my blood, red and blue. However, you, if you do have light magic, should see another colour. What is it?"
The pharaoh stepped back, and let Yugi have a clear view of him. The slave boy squinted. "I see… black, master."
"Very good. Now," He held up a hand, fingers curled around an imaginary ball. "You see my hand?" Yugi nodded, "I will create a ball of shadow magic. You will tell me if that is the colour in my veins."
The shadow magic formed quickly, and Yugi flinched back from it. "My pharaoh, most of your blood is that colour."
"Most?" The older boy questioned, raising his eyebrows regally.
"Some is a deeper black, like the velvet my mother wore…" A tear slipped down his cheek, leaving a droplet of sparkling salt water on the end of his delicate lashes.
"Your mother wore velvet? Then she must have been rich. How did you end up a slave, if your family didn't sell you?" The pharaoh was intrigued by the tale. He had always thought that to be a slave would be wonderful. Free of the palace, free of responsibilities…
"They did sell me. My mother couldn't keep me, if she wanted to be rich. I was just another child, eating her food, spending her money… She sold me to the slave traders. They sold me to the temple people. I had never liked being rich, and I had seen cats, and now I have been allowed to touch them, fuss them… I love it."
"Until I got whipped. That was a week in to my slave work. After that it came every two days. The cats help me, take my mind off the pain." Yugi realised he was still talking to the pharaoh, the ruler of all Egypt. "I'm sorry for going on, master…"
"No, no, that's alright. You confirmed my suspicions when you told me my blood had a darker black. That black is poison. I think it comes through my food, but I have no food tester at the moment. They all die within a day of arriving. I think it must be because their bodies are not used to the poison. I can cope with it because I was brought up eating it, to build up my own resistance."
"As a child of a rich family, you would be adjusted to poison, I think." Yugi nodded, "Well then. I appoint you as my food tester. That way, if any poison gets past your light magic sight, you will be able to resist its effect."
"Yes pharaoh. May I go?" Yugi was anxious to leave the powerful boy's presence.
"No. I want you to stay here for a few days. I need to train you in your magic. I would send you to the high priest, but I have a feeling that he is responsible for my poisoning. We start the lessons now."
"As you have light magic, you will probably be better at healing than weapons. I'll start you on that first. Before that, however, you need to know what to call me. I can't have you calling me 'my pharaoh' and 'master'. It's too longwinded. I told you in the temple that my name was Yami. It is. That's my real name. And that's what I want you to call me. And I don't want you bowing to me, at least not when we're in private. Got it?"
Yugi mumbled something that sounded like a yes.
Yami took a long knife from the table by the side of his bed. "I want you to heal this. Don't try to force your magic. It's a lot easier to use when you aren't concentrating as much." He placed the knife against his arm, and as Yugi watched in terrified silence, braced himself, then carefully broke the skin.
Yugi yelped quietly as the blood trickled out, his eyes going wide at the crimson, and he stepped back. "Come here," Yami commanded, "rest your hands either side of it."
Slowly, Yugi did as he was told, staring at the blood that now flowed over his own hands, bright as ruby. "Imagine it healing, the blood stopping, the skin joining together…" Yami fell silent, amazed at Yugi's skill. He was almost as good as Mariah, who had tended to him many times when he was younger, and he hadn't even been trained yet.
As the final drop of blood fell from his arm, Yami smiled. "Well done, Yugi"
Yugi swayed, and with a sigh, he fell straight into Yami's arms. "Oh, yes. I forgot about that. Damn. Sangath! Can I have a hand here?"
Sangath rushed into the room, saw the blood on the floor, and blanched. "My pharaoh, I am sorry for not protecting you. I shall take him to the dungeon immediately!" He moved forwards, to take Yugi's unconscious body from the arms of the other boy, but the Pharaoh stepped back.
"He didn't harm me, I did it myself, to test something. I want you to take him down to Jounouchi, tell him that he used too much magic for his body to cope with, and that he'll will get immediate attention or Jounouchi will suffer." He held out Yugi's body, and Sangath took him, carefully, almost as if he was afraid that the boy would break if he were handled too roughly.
"Yes master, at once." Sangath bowed – not easy with an unconscious body in his arms – and backed out of the room, leaving the pharaoh to dress.
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The infirmary-
Jounouchi smiled at his patient. "There you go, Alai. That didn't hurt much, did it?" The young boy shook his head, wide eyed. "You go and play with Lee, but no more fighting, alright?" Alai nodded mutely. "Go on, it looks like I've got a new patient. Bye!"
Alai grinned. "Bye, Jou!" He waved, and slipped out the door, dodging the guard as he went.
"Sangath. What is wrong with the child?"
"The pharaoh. He's been experimenting again."
"Oh, dear. I hope he isn't planning to set this one as a new tester. He doesn't look strong enough. Not that he'd disagree about the food, I'm sure."
While Jounouchi was talking, he was settling Yugi on the bed, checking his pulse and heart rate. "He looks undernourished. Who did he belong to?"
"He was a slave, in Bastet's temple."
"Ah. A slave. That explains it."
"Is he going to survive? The pharaoh would be very displeased if he were to die."
"He won't die, Sangath. You have my word. He's only weak, from whatever experiment the pharaoh conducted. An day or so of rest should have him back on his feet."
"Good. I'll tell the pharaoh. He may be down later, to check on the child."
"What is his name? I can't keep calling him child."
"I don't know. The pharaoh may. Perhaps you could ask him when he arrives."
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Stay tuned, folks!
