AN: Right, this came later than expected, but you can blame my beta and her deadlines for that.
Yuugi's still an arse, and I can't promise he'll get much better, but you can understand his reasons, yes?
Ah, and apparently, as The British Museum tells me, the game of senet includes the throwing of sticks to decide how many squares you can then move your piece(s), so I choose to believe them.
King
Part Four
"What do you think of them, cousin?"
Atemu placed his question quite suddenly, amidst their quiet game of senet. Seth looked up from the pieces thoughtfully.
"The Nubian's, My Pharaoh?"
"Yes, personally, without the rest of the council here, what would you make of them?"
"I… am unsure what to think, if I am honest. They do so many things that contradict themselves, they seem dangerous, and yet the most threatening thing they have done so far is arrive."
Atemu 'hmmed' in thought, leaning an elbow on the table and resting his chin upon the palm, watching Seth finally move his piece after minutes of waiting. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye; turning to it, he smiled a little, seeing a bored-looking falcon yawn widely before tucking his head back under his wing. Yuugi had been sleeping a lot recently, he wondered why.
"They certainly seem sincere with their offer of peace." Seth continued.
Atemu nodded, "But isn't that the problem? Our Items have been uneasy since they arrived, it cannot be coincidence."
"And with Isis's misgivings, the possibility of a coincidence is even less likely."
Seth sighed, both in slight nervousness for the future, and because with the quiet clatter of sticks on the stone table, Atemu had made another move in their game that all but claimed him the winner. Seth wasn't even sure why he tried anymore, he'd been trying to beat Atemu at this game since they were children, and it had never worked. Running his hand through his rich brown hair, he remembered the meeting Isis had summoned them all for only last night. The way the normally calm Priestess kept tossing her raven hair out of her eyes as if in great frustration and nerves had stuck with him. She was on edge, unnerved by the Sennen Tauk's inability to see into their future. All she could see was black. Endless, unbroken blackness.
That couldn't bode well.
They had spent hours discussing what it was they could sense form the Nubians, hours trying to decipher all the small signs Isis described as pointing towards a catastrophe, and, even worse, the Sennen Tauk's unheard of inability to see into it all. But all they could pinpoint was the fact that the Nubians felt hostile under all their peace talks. The signs Isis described were too ambiguous, they pointed in too many possible directions at once, and none of them were good. They could come to no conclusion over the vision of black.
So they had parted, last night, with as many questions as they had come together with.
Atemu was nervous: they were all nervous. Except for Yuugi, who, Atemu realised, didn't seem to care much either way. The Pharaoh knew that Khemet meant little, if anything at all, to the djinni, and its destruction would be more likely to benefit the demon than not. Atemu resisted the urge to sigh heavily; the neutral attitude Yuugi had towards this future was helping to ground his own worries, but it was still a little hurtful to know that, though Yuugi protected him with his life, he would still always choose his freedom over anything else.
Even in matters of the heart, Air Djinn were difficult to ground.
Beside Seth's shoulder, the High Priest's personal guard shifted, uncomfortable from standing stoically for so long. Atemu lifted his eyes lazily from contemplating the game board where Seth was due to make a move, to the tall, dark blond man dressed in simple cloth and armaments, a spear held vertical at his side.
The guard, Jonoh, as Atemu remembered, had been the head of Seth's personal guard for almost as many years as he had been in the palace. Seth had caught sight of him and been mysteriously keen on him entering his service one day when observing the new recruits in the training grounds. Over the years, Atemu had seen them grow strangely close, despite the class distinctions between them, and he had suspicions that the closeness was even more intimate than that.
Of course, Seth didn't exactly show it, but it was clear to see if you knew him. And if not through Seth, then Jonoh wasn't exactly a pinnacle of stone, Atemu would have to be blind to miss the looks the guard gave Seth, and the eager way he followed the priest around surely wasn't all work ethic. Yuugi had commented once on Seth clearly needing to get himself a real dog, if he was that keen on them that he would get a lover who acted just like one. Atemu had nearly burst into laughter in the middle of a meeting, quickly shushing the silver-tongued demon before he could go any further.
"We'll be finalising this peace deal soon." Atemu said, elegant fingers hovering over the pieces, studying the board, "Hopefully nothing will come of their presence here."
Seth sighed, "Then what could it be if not the Nubians? The signs can't be pointing at nothing."
Atemu chose not to answer the question they already knew the answer to, "How have the security measures been going?"
"Well. We have several disguised Middle-Class Djinn of varying types patrolling the palace perimeters, and a number of imps placed as spies in the city and Nubian camp, you have already heard all of their reports."
Atemu moved his piece to win the game, "Indeed. Another round, Seth?"
"If it pleases His Majesty."
Yuugi opened his eyes momentarily to glance at the two men rearranging the senet pieces to start again, then raised his wing to block them out, bored of the never ending board games the Pharaoh and his cousin played. It was always so predictable. Seth was a brilliant player; but Atemu was a master, and always had been.
His thoughts were centred less on the Nubians and more on that apprentice of Kalim's. He had seen her in more than one place he was sure she wasn't supposed to be. She and her brother had been from a remote part of the kingdom; their people had different thoughts to those normally found in the palace, different names for the same things. He didn't even know her name, but she kept catching his attention. She was more calculating than her brother, smarter, more patient; Yuugi could see the something extra in her dark eyes. Left to her own devices, she would become powerful, untamed.
And so, for that reason, he did not tell Atemu about her. He wanted to see where she would go with her newfound ambition, her dark desires. She interested him. And he liked chaos.
A little ways across the room, he heard the sharp 'clack' of a game piece being placed firmly on the board.
"I win again, Seth."
-
It was late afternoon when Yuugi felt the tug of a summon. But Atemu was in the library, mere isles away from him, why would he need to use such a powerful summon when just speaking his name would have worked?
When a painfully sharp jolt seemed to yank at his very essence, Yuugi knew that it wasn't Atemu who was attempting to summon him. He didn't know how it was that someone outside of their bond was managing this, but he would find out soon, as he succumbed to the demanding tug and felt himself be pulled as if through a tight tube, through to where the mystery person was waiting.
Yuugi had his suspicions.
He materialised again in a small circle drawn crudely in red dye and dirt, clearly it was a makeshift and temporary deal, whatever this was. Raising his feline head, Yuugi was not surprised to see the girl apprentice stood close by. A bright look of triumph shinning in her dark eyes.
Yuugi twitched his tail and raised a black eyebrow. She grinned, and held up a large bronze amulet covered in runes on a long chain.
"Hello, demon."
Yuugi recognised the amulet with a sudden thrill of shock and slight fear, before its power activated fully. Sending a shockwave through the air of the bare stone room, it launched its power towards the intended demon, gripping hold with invisible tendrils and twisting its claws into his physical body.
Yuugi gritted his teeth and forced down a scream, writhing on the dirty floor as those invisible claws forced his body to change, pulling his human form out of the small cat he had been.
Yuugi drew in a huge breath when the pain subsided, pulling himself uncertainly to his wobbly feet and snarling at the damned girl in front of him, who was staring at him with glee. It had been the power of that amulet that had summoned him, and it was the power of that amulet that was about to make him do what she wanted. It vibrated sharply as it exuded its power, buzzing faintly in the quiet room. Perhaps it had been a mistake after all to leave her to her own devices.
"How did you get something like that?" Yuugi growled.
She tilted her head, "You recognise it then. It has been passed through the bloodline of my clan for generations, though I have only recently discovered its purpose."
Yuugi scoffed. Summoned by a novice, just perfect. The amulet was created by cunning humans with powerful words and a lot of time on their hands, to temporarily steal another's demon; it revealed them in their most truthful forms, it forced them to be genuine in whatever they spoke, it was almost like a drug that kept them unable to keep up their inhibitions.
Lifting his upper lip in a half-snarl, Yuugi sent out thin, barely noticeable tendrils of magic to sniff out the room. The circle may have been crude, but it was demon tight. The room itself had been sealed by the girl's magic.
"Well then, what do you want?"
The girl's smug grin didn't lessen, "The truth."
Yuugi frowned; she had summoned him here for a chat? She was using up one of humankind's most powerful devices on capturing a First Class Djinni and all she wanted was the truth? He stayed silent.
"Tell me, exactly, what your relationship is with the Pharaoh."
A powerful magic forced the words out of his mouth, "He is my Master, and I am his djinni. I thought all magic-users could understand at least those basics."
"All the relationship, fool!" She snapped, "Beyond that. Magic, emotions, experiences, tell me."
"We are soul bonded." He snarled through gritted teeth, "As long as he remains alive, he is my world whether I like it or not. I am trapped on this plane of existence until he dies, and the magic that binds us together prevents me from tearing him apart." He paused, fighting desperately with the magic of the amulet. But the girl had asked for the truth and it was a fruitless fight, the magic won out, "He loves me. He loves me more than he can even understand. I am his life's companion, his best friend, his confidant, his lover."
Her eyes went wide, "His… lover?"
Yuugi ground his teeth together, "…Yes."
She was shocked into silence for a moment, "Impossible. A demon with a human. With the Pharaoh."
"Enough of this!" Yuugi spat, "What do you attempt to achieve with these ridiculous questions?"
She scowled at him and ignored his comments, her mind working fast, "And what about you? Do you love him?"
This time Yuugi's fight against the amulet was visible, his shoulders shook and tiny drops of blood dripped from his clenched fists. But in the end, the truth was the truth, no matter how he hid it from the world. From himself. "I do."
She smiled again, "Perfect. Then what would you do if someone I know was plotting the destruction of the palace?"
Yuugi raised an eyebrow, what was this? Revenge? "I'd do nothing."
She was taken aback, "Excuse me?"
"You heard."
"But… why? If you loved him you'd do anything for him, wouldn't you? You'd stop anyone that attempted to destroy his home and position. You'd kill them!"
Yuugi's mouth twitched in a smile. That's what this was about. Ambition. Revenge and ambition. She wanted someone dead. There was no plot to destroy the palace, only a little girl's dark thoughts. Rather than be horrified at the prospect of a demon on the seat of power, she embraced it with thoughts of gaining her own power. She wasn't much like her brother at all.
Yuugi tilted his head in a bored fashion, "No, I wouldn't. Khemet means nothing to me. As long as the Master is alive, my duty remains fulfilled."
"But what if they were planning on killing the Pharaoh along with destroying the palace?"
Yuugi rolled his eyes, "You are wasting my time, girl, you heard my answer."
"But you love him don't you?!" she cried, desperate for some solid ground to work with.
"I am djinn." Was the only reply Yuugi gave her after a long pause.
"So… then you truly don't care?"
"I love him. But I would kill him, given the chance. He knows this."
She licked her lips nervously, "I don't understand."
"No, understanding never has been a human strong point."
"Give me a straight answer, demon! I hold the amulet, you cannot lie!"
"I'm not lying." A taunting smile, there were ways around this magic after all, "You are not asking the right questions."
She took a deep breath, reigning in her anger and fear of failure, "You say you love him. But if that is true then why would you kill him?"
"For my freedom."
She blinked, "But… you are free."
Yuugi scowled, "You truly are a novice apprentice aren't you?"
She flared up, insulted, "I'm the one asking the questions here!"
He snorted, rolling his eyes in irritation, "Humans are all the same. Very well, I will tell you, the chances of you ever being capable of summoning me again, or any kind of demon powerful enough for your purposes, are miniscule anyway so I see no harm." He smirked and ignored her insult, "There is no human alive that could manage a First Class alone."
"Now who's the novice," she spoke smugly, "the Pharaoh summoned you so – "
Yuugi threw his head back and laughed, "I suggest you keep your mouth shut from now on, girl, before you prove yourself to be even more stupid. Think! I have been bound to the Pharaoh since he was barely a minute old, do you think a newborn could have summoned anything? Let alone a djinni?"
"What?" She had heard nothing of how or when Yuugi had come into their world, only those who had been present at the birth knew.
"The Pharaoh is extremely powerful, he would not be able to maintain his position as my Master if he were not, but even he could not have summoned me alone. I am of the highest-level air djinn. I am one of what we demons call 'Powers'. It took every single member of the council, and the previous Pharaoh himself, to bring me into this world."
She tilted her head enraptured by his speech, which flowed more freely now he seemed to have dropped his guard a little more. Normally, he would not have continued, but with the amulet resonating, it lowered his inhibitions, and forced him to speak more freely than ever before.
"My name is forgotten." Yuugi said, eyes gazing blankly at the buzzing amulet, "By all but the most ancient of texts. The power in people diminishes, slowly, slowly, each generation losing another grain of magic from its veins, like sand in an hourglass. The field of sand is as large as the desert now, but eventually it will be no larger than a strip on the coast. Soon, it will all be lost to you. It is better that my name is forgotten, very soon there will be no one left powerful enough to contain me, summoning me would only result in deaths. I will not be chained willingly to mortal forms."
Yuugi spoke the last part with venom, as if impassioned by his own speech. His eyes flashed dangerously.
"Humans have no idea… no idea of what it is like to be free one moment and behind bars the next. Not in the context of which I speak. Free. Truly free and at peace; one with everything, scattered about the world and everywhere at once. That is the secret of the air djinn: our essences are not contained, not by the earth on which we stand, not within the flames or embers of a fire, nor in the oceans and rivers of the world. That is why it is so difficult to summon us, so impossible to keep hold of us: we are air, and we are everywhere at once. To bring us here one must pull together every one of our atoms, spread singularly across the world, drifting in perfect slumber, and force them together so tightly that we are forced to take on corporeal forms. Our minds are wrenched from limbo and forced into these cumbersome forms. It is torture!"
She did not dare to interrupt him; he was so angered now that the room seemed charged with energy, as if he had waited for centuries for an excuse to vent. And she feared that if she spoke she would snap him out of this state and would hear no more from him.
"No. It is beyond torture," Yuugi hissed after a moment, sounding much like the snake whose shape he often took, "Agony cannot describe, cannot come close to what existence in a corporeal state is like for an air djinn! Every single atom in your body fighting, pulling endlessly away, to be free. Death would be better than this. A thousand deaths would be easier to bare! But I refuse to choose death. After all," his voice was growing quiet again, controlled, dark, "a human's life is very short. I can wait."
The energy emptied away from the air, leaving the room feeling unnaturally cold. She shivered. Yuugi was looking at her coldly from under his hair, probably now realising and regretting his outburst.
Inexplicably, she felt pity for him, and sorrow at his predicament. She did not doubt his words, he had spoken them with too much experienced emotion to doubt their sincerity, and the amulet prevented anything but the truth from him anyway.
And as his words sunk in she felt something stirring at the bottom of her heart, a forming idea.
The whispers that visited her in the shadowy nights would be very proud if she could finally discover a way for him to defeat the Pharaoh. And the benefits to her career would be almost endless. They would reward her.
"You wish that strongly for your freedom? You are in that much pain that you would kill him, the one you love?"
The amulet made him answer truthfully, "Yes."
She smiled invitingly, "I could give you that way out."
"Touch him and I will send you screaming to the jaws of Ammut!" Was the immediate reply.
She stepped back, shocked and a little fearful, "Excuse me? But you just said you wanted to kill him."
"Did I once say that I wanted to kill the Pharaoh?" Yuugi answered snappishly, his patience wearing thin now, "I would never let anyone touch him. I am bound by a bond only breakable by death to him, I am bound by my own heart to protect him. I will destroy anyone who harms him, but out of love, I would end his life myself if he gave me the chance. Only me."
"But you…"
"Yes, girl, we have established that I love him. But you forget the key difference between us. I am not human. You cannot apply the same rules to me as you would anyone else. I love differently. A djinni's love is immortal, unchanging. Whether the recipient is there to receive it or not."
"But I can give you a way out of this hell you are trapped in! Never to be summoned again!" She was growing desperate, her perfect plan destroyed before it could properly form.
Yuugi gave a sly grin that was so sudden and strange that she grew inexplicably terrified. Then he spoke: "Your amulet is breaking, it must be old. One final thing then, little girl, to end this spell. A final truth you would do well to remember. The Pharaoh knows all of this. He knows I love him. He knows I am in agony. He knows, acutely, how dangerous I am. Deep down, he knows I would kill him. Yet, still, he chooses to keep me in this way. And I will tell you this: he loves me all the more because of it. My pain makes me real to him. The danger makes it all the better. He relishes the threat, quietly to himself, knowing that with me by his side he could conquer the world, and still die at my hands." Yuugi tilted his head and muttered the next part with barely contained laughter, "He is addicted to me."
The words made her reel backwards, the implications making her worldview tilt out of control, for several minutes she had to stand with a hand to her chest and concentrate on the goal the darkness had whispered to her. The Pharaoh, their God and leader, the most powerful man in all Khemet, was hopelessly seduced by demonic powers. She had known it, of course, but never suspected it to this extent. It was fitting then, the other name her people gave to the Air Djinn, the one she had never understood. They really were better known as Chaos Demons.
She blocked her thoughts out; trying to control how this revelation changed everything she had grown up believing in by stalling it for later when she was alone. Managing to rearrange a calmer exterior, she looked back up in an attempt to meet Yuugi's gaze. It was blank again, with only the air of childish innocence clinging to his pretty face.
She blinked, and before her stood a jackal in the boy's place. For a moment she flared up in anger before realising what had happened. The amulet had ceased resonating. Its spell had broken.
The jackal's muzzle opened, tongue curling lazily, silkily around the words it spoke in Yuugi's voice, "He calls me now. You will be lucky indeed if he decides not to investigate why I was away for so long, perhaps I should prevent the investigation and cut straight to the punishment."
She didn't need to ask what he meant, Yuugi's chosen form, the jackal, was threat enough. The jackal grinned, displaying rows of dagger sharp teeth, something that put her on edge. She knew she had no power over him now.
Suddenly he burst into a sprint, running straight for her. She didn't have time to think, not even enough time to let instincts kick in and run before the jackal was right in front of her. Yuugi crouched and leapt, teeth flashing as he aimed for her throat.
She screamed.
But no pain followed.
Hesitantly, she opened her eyes, lowering her arms from around her head although she didn't know when she had raised them. The jackal was nowhere to be seen. His presence had vanished.
The night whispers would not be pleased.
-
Atemu turned his head as he sensed Yuugi's arrival. Eyes narrowing as a slim, sleek furred jackal appeared out of thin air, mid-leap, and landed with a slight clattering of claws on the floor.
"Where have you been?" he demanded as Yuugi trotted over to him.
Coming to a stop by his side on the balcony Yuugi replied, "Just a bit of fun."
Atemu scowled, Yuugi only ever took the shape of a jackal when either delivering a death threat or having just carried out previously mentioned threat. He was suspicious as to what this 'fun' was. "I hope you haven't been terrorising the apprentices and palace slaves again."
Yuugi gave him a mock innocent look, or at least as innocent as a jackal could manage, "Now, why would I do that? Nurturing young human minds is of the upmost importance to us all, mental scarring would be such a horrific set back."
"Overkill, Yuugi." Atemu said, trying to hide his amusement, "I might have bought it if you had left it at 'why would I do that?'"
"Of course you would." Yuugi said dryly, an ear twitching to better hear a distant bird.
Atemu sighed heavily, kneeling next the sitting jackal to better enforce his words. "I don't like it when you go away, Yuugi, you know this." He whispered it into the jackal's ear, unwilling to speak any louder.
Yuugi swished his tail, "You are fine, aren't you?" it was rhetorical question.
"That is not the point. What if something had happened and you did not get here in time or I had no chance to call you?"
"You have many other djinn and imps under your control, Atemu."
Atemu scoffed, "The imps are only useful as spies or snacks for the other djinn, and the djinn themselves are all but useless for anything other than manual labour. You know this."
Yuugi smiled, "Perhaps."
"Where have you been, then? You should not vanish in that way, Yuugi." Atemu persisted.
Yuugi bristled silently with irritation; did he have no privacy on top of the forced slavery to various humans?
"Nowhere worth concern, do not worry." Yuugi replied stiffly, choosing to sniff at the air rather than provide any detailed answers. "Those Nubian ambassadors have still not left the palace?"
Atemu shifted, his irritation at the ambassadors presence clear to see. "No, unfortunately."
"Why have they not returned to camp yet?"
"Isis wished for an audience with them. She, Seth and Kalim are trying to decipher what it is about them that is strange. However, probing a person's soul without their knowing is proving to be much harder than we expected. And they are lingering here longer than they should."
"Am I to give them a more persuasive reason to leave?" Yuugi asked as if observing the weather, Atemu looked down in time to see the jackal's fur ripple and turn a black darker than night, a solid gold chocker around his neck and hoop earring piercing his left pointed ear.
Atemu smiled, burying his fingers in the fur on Yuugi's shoulders, enjoying the little pinpricks that sparked at his skin where contact was made.
"Be careful, my demon, sightings of Gods and Divinity are to be left for a much more… particular occasion."
Yuugi turned his sharp muzzle a little, eyes glinting from below the half-open lids; he and the Pharaoh shared a look. Atemu trailed his fingers along the underside of Yuugi's jaw.
"I had a dream last night." He spoke quietly so that both of Yuugi's pointed ears had to swivel just to catch enough of the sound to hear him, "I can't really remember it, but… I think I was in pain. Are you supposed to feel pain in dreams?"
"That all depends on the dream."
Atemu lowered his gaze, "There was fire, and enough men to fill up an army. You were right there, but I could not find you. I heard your voice, but not how I usually do. I heard it outside of me. You spoke like you were in a different place all together. There was more, but I don't remember it."
"Why did you not mention this when you woke?"
"Because we had to go straight to meet with the ambassadors again. And I thought it would be nothing, it was a dream, after all, but it has been plaguing my mind since I woke. It was a dream though, just a dream?"
Yuugi wondered how in all of existence he had missed the slight shifting in Atemu's mood, when usually the slightest twinge of irritation or the smallest ounce of desire could be felt as strongly as a great wave of love or fear.
"Dreams that come to those with power often mean more then they show. You have great power, Master, it would not be wise to ignore this."
Atemu was silent for a moment, then he looked up hesitantly and asked with a nervous lick of his lips, "You… will not leave me?"
The jackal gazed at him blankly, "I have no choice to do otherwise."
"Not like that, Yuugi, don't say it like that." He swallowed, "You would stay with me, if you had the choice?"
The jackal said nothing, in the moment that followed, Atemu leaned forward and was embraced by a pair of pale arms. Shifting, he coiled up to the warmth and pressed his face into the djinni's neck to hide from the truth of Yuugi's expression.
Yuugi pressed Atemu to his chest tightly, finger's clutching at the rich cape splaying from Atemu's shoulders on to the ground before them like a frozen fall of water, he listened to the human's breathing, felt Atemu's heart beating against his own.
But his gaze was lost to the eternally changing sky above.
-
"Is this all you have found?" Atemu asked, his expression etched into a scowl.
The five fire imps, crouched like bullfrogs in a small group, matched the Pharaoh's gaze with expressions of the utmost boredom.
"Yes, Master. That is all." Said the one in front, the one Atemu had summoned himself. It had a particularly sharp pair of coal-black eyes and a cruel mouth that stretched the dry, red skin of its cheeks when it smiled.
"No gossip? Nothing from the soldiers, the slaves, the whores?" Seth asked, the disbelief in his voice was clear.
"Nothing at all. None of them seem to know much of anything, we have reported everything of suspicion already." Seth's summoned imp spoke this time, "Each of them is as idiotic as the other. And the King and his council members are all keeping silent."
Atemu sighed and waved a bejewelled hand in a gesture of dismissal, "Very well. You will continue your vigilance, but until then you may lea–"
"That cannot be all." Came a low, growling voice from behind the Pharaoh.
Yuugi glared at the imps as all eyes in the room turned to look at him. He was stood half-curled around Atemu's legs, his golden head level with the King's waist. Slowly, he padded forward.
"What aren't you telling us?"
The imps shrunk slightly, but stood their ground. Atemu felt confused by Yuugi's actions, his djinni hardly ever spoke loudly enough for other people in the room to hear him.
But then again, Yuugi had been acting strangely all afternoon.
"Yuugi," Atemu said smoothly to keep Yuugi placid, quickly gesturing to the Priests to remain silent, "They've told us everything already, I and the Priests would know if they had not."
Yuugi had been about to back off, realising the truth of Atemu's words, but the imps had found their courage, and realised their safety, and wanted to use it.
"That's right, kitty." The lead imp said tauntingly, speaking in the chittering language of the imps and lesser demons, "Now stop embarrassing yourself and go lick your arse clean."
"I could kill you easily." The lion growled, also using the imp's language so the humans would not understand. But the imps were now in their element.
"But you won't, will you?" Said one of the imps cheekily. One of its companions leapt onto its shoulder's like some obscure frog and grinned toothily, saying:
"Because Master won't let you." He simpered the word 'Master', taunting Yuugi with a purposefully pathetic imitation of himself.
"We hear talk of you, you know." Another imp said, with an identical grin, "The Powers talk of you, do you remember them? Your dear friends? They say you aren't like them anymore, they say you've gone soft. And guess what else," The imp giggled, "We hear tell that you like the humans now. That you looove them. That's your Master there, isn't it? The one with the crown. The one you like to fuck!"
The little creatures fell about laughing. Finally fed up by their constant jabbering, Atemu swept an arm to dismiss them. Though they vanished immediately, their laughter continued to echo. Concerned, he looked towards his demon. Yuugi's teeth were gritted together so hard his jaw was beginning to hurt, his golden fur stood on end and almost crackled with infuriated electricity.
"Yuugi?" He asked, anxious, reaching a hand out to touch his mane, then yelped and jumped back as a sharp shock blasted through him. Startled at this reaction, Atemu stood frozen with the confused priests just a little ways behind him, he held the hand that had been shocked to his chest.
Yuugi did not turn to look at him, his burning gaze still fixed on the space where the imps had been. His mouth opened, sharp teeth glinting with the want for blood:
"Let me kill them."
Atemu's eyebrows rose at the unexpected request, his mouth felt dry when he spoke Yuugi's name again in question, half outstretching his hand to touch the demon's mane again before he thought better of it.
"You heard me. Bring them back here. Let me kill them!"
"No. Yuugi, no, we still need them. What in heaven did they say to you?"
The lion stood resolutely still, "Nothing I can translate. Now bring them back."
"Yuugi you cannot kill them – "
"Do not deny me this, Atemu!" He roared and moved abruptly, twisting his neck to look back at them.
Atemu felt a cold thrill run down his spine. Never had Yuugi looked as demonic as he did now, never had his heritage been so clear to see in his now glowing eyes, never had he looked so full of hate.
And never had Yuugi used his name before.
Behind him, the priests took defensive positions, their Items flaring to life. Ready to fight should the djinni snap and attack.
Desperately, Atemu wanted to give Yuugi what he desired, especially when it was clear how badly he wanted it. Atemu wished with all his heart he knew what was driving his soul-partner to the brink of loosing his unfaltering self-control. But he couldn't. They still needed those imps.
"Forgive me, Yuugi. I can't let you kill them."
With a roar so loud it cracked the inscriptions on the finely painted walls, Yuugi turned, the priests held their Items ready for attack. But all the djinni did was meet Atemu's pained gaze with blind rage and hated.
"Then let the Powers damn me before I concede to serve you again!"
With that damning shriek, the lion dissolved into the air with a small explosion of lightning and silver wind. Leaving the large room silent and held up by cracking walls.
-
White gold grains of sand dug between her sandaled toes, sticking to her sweaty palms as she stumbled and half-crawled up the steep dune. The moon hung pale as that Chaos Demon's skin, its scars seemed to grin at her in the same taunting manner as him.
"Am I nearly there?"
The night whispers told her to be silent and keep moving. Coming to her ears like living shadows born on the cruel desert winds.
Exhausted, panting, her limbs trembling beneath her, she turned her head back to the huge city of Khemet, now a dark metropolis on the horizon. A faint disturbance in the pressure of the air sent frozen tingles down her spine. What was happening in the palace? Fear bubbled in her stomach, thinking he had found her. He must have informed the Pharaoh by now. The King's magic was far beyond hers, he would be able to find her and send his snake to destroy her in a moment.
The night growled at her, desert shadows swarming about her ankles like scorpions, nipping her heels, telling her to move before they took her body from her possession again.
Breath hitching in fear, she swallowed and tore her gaze away from the city, ignoring the faint magic she had felt suddenly infuse into the air before fading. Scrambling up the final few feet, she reached the top of the dune and looked down.
Her black eyes alight with the red fires of the Nubian camp below, she smiled.
The whispers told her to hurry.
-
AN: Don't know when the next part will be up, I may have the chapter planned out, but very little is written because I've been bogged down with writing essays and original stuff for uni. On the plus side I've randomly managed to write a huge chunk for the next instalment of the little 'oneshots' from Alphabet. Anyone remember 'Zoom-Lens'? Thought not.
Anyway, due to all this the preview hasn't been written, but I can give you another little glance-type-thing: Everyone's most hated little Air Djinni has gone missing, and Atemu's distracted to the point of despair. With the Nubain's right on their doorstep, this probably isn't the best thing. Which means that late-night desert travelling probably isn't the best idea either. Ah, Atemu, you silly Pharaoh, you should have known the Nubain's weren't all they said they were. One life-threatening situation, one crazy black stallion, and one night in an oasis later, the King of Egypt isn't the same man he was when he woke up that morning. And as for Yuugi? Well, he's hurtling towards one hell of a fork in the path of life, and no matter which direction he takes; the result is not going to be all peaches and cream. In fact it'll be more like rotten apple slices and old milk.
Review Please!