The Hidden King

by 004

Chapter 2

Seth strapped his horse to the stables at the side of the inn, making sure that the knots were secure before unburdening the horse of his load. He carried the boy in his arms, still careful of his still unconfirmed injuries.

He nudged the ratty wooden door of the inn and it opened without much force. The small lobby was bathed in a soft orange light coming from the oil lamp hanging on the wall. The furniture was sparse and Seth laid his unconscious companion on the stool near a clay pot. He brushed a few hairs from his face and checked his position so the boy wouldn't fall off from the chair.

With a little bit of shuffling with his belongings, he found what he was looking for and headed straight to the counter to rent a room. "Will this be enough for one night's worth of lodging?"

Seth placed the small pouch of bronze coins on the dirty counter of the inn. The place may not have looked much but it seemed that the price for one room was cheap. The priest only had a small amount of money with him and he was not keen on wasting it for a grander room.

The fat man behind the counter opened the pouch and inspected the money inside before giving his unkempt beard one languid stroke. "Yeah, it'll be right. We only have one last room though and it only has one bed. But I guess you'll have no problem with that, eh?" The man kept looking at the boy sitting on the only chair in the room with a gaze Seth was uncomfortable with before flicking back to him, an amused smile on his lips.

"I'll take it," Seth decided without pause, choosing to ignore the man's comment. The man took out a piece of wood, no bigger than his palm and held it up to Seth. "You just place it on the hook outside your door. It will mean that the room's occupied; got it? You don't want anyone stumbling in to your room in the middle of the night, do yeh?" Seth just nodded and as he was about to get the wooden block from the innkeeper, the fat man leered at him. "I knew you priests weren't all pure and celibate."

"I bed your pardon?" Seth all but seethed at the man, malice in his eyes.

"Oh come on… you're bringing that boy in for a little fun, right? No need to be shy, dear boy. All men gotta need to release once in a while, even you holy-priest-people. You must have picked up pretty somewhere. Knocked him out and brought him here to fuck him. But keep in mind that the walls are thin and his screams aren't gonna be—"

"You vile creature!" the priest hissed at him with venom. The small clay pot at the edge of the counter had fallen and broke into pieces when he slammed his hands on the counter. Needless to say, the innkeeper was surprised with his sudden outburst. "Has your mind nothing but impure thoughts? By the gods should you be punished for your indecency!" Seth snatched the wooden block from the fat man's grasp and went to the unconscious boy in brisk steps, desperate to get out of the perverted man's presence.

He gently wound the boy's arms around his shoulders and hoisted him up into his arms, his back still facing the innkeeper. Seth adjusted his leather bag so it wouldn't fall off and set to the stairs at the side of the counter.

Seth gave one last glare to the man before giving a stiff nod of farewell and bade him a pleasant night… no matter if he was wishing the man's demise in his head.

~~II~~

After settling in their small lodging, Seth decided to be the Good Samaritan and gave the only straw bed to his unconscious charge. He had taken off the boy's dirty clothes and cleaned his body with a bucket of water he managed to retrieve from the well beside the inn and a rag that was provided in their room.

Even a moral-bound priest such as himself, he couldn't help but marvel the beauty of his new companion. With skin a shining bronze and a body figure that was surely blessed by the gods, his every feature and body part was a puzzle piece that formed the picture that was perfection. The boy's hair was also a startling combination of three unusual colors—black, gold and red—that framed his beautiful face in such a way that resembled a king's crown.

Seth hastened his cleaning lest he be doing what the fat man had suggested, Ra damn him. He changed the boy into the second set of clothes he always brought with him, before tucking him into bed and draped his cloak on the blankets covering the boy to protect him from the cold Kemet night.

After checking that everything was okay, he scuttled to the only other furniture in the room and propped the chair up against the wall opposite to the bed. He grabbed the other blanket that was available and wrapped it tightly around himself and prayed to Nut to bless him with plentiful sleep that night before settling to a uncomfortable position on the rickety chair.


A/N: I'm sorry for the wait.