Anzu pulled back the curtains as the carriage rolled through Tripoli, the largest city in Libya. It was far from grand though, the city was more like a derelict village and only one building was still standing which she assumed was the palace were the Regents and High Priests lived, they most certainly had not done a good job of taking care of her parents home.
"Don't worry my dear" Kaiser said leaning over from his seat and touching the side of her face where he had hit her the night before for killing one of his guards, when were King and Queen we can rebuild this land"
Anzu grunted pulling her face away from him, "I will never be your wife" she spat.
"What did I tell you about defiance my Queen? It shall not be tolerated" he said and grabbed her arm holding it in a vice grip, "and you shall be punished"
Anzu pulled her arm free and pushed herself back onto her carriage seat further away from him, "it is not defiance" she told him, "it is my faith in Atem, he shall come for me, just wait and see"
Kasier scowled, "believe as you wish but once were wed your spirit and faith in your Pharaoh will be crushed and besides let him come for you because then I will take great pleasure in killing him and then I will rule Egypt as well"
"In your dreams" Anzu muttered under her breath as they arrived at the palace.
Back in Egypt:
Atem rode through the desert with Mahad, Seto and some of his best guards. The sun was roaring making it hard to concentrate on the situation at hand. He needed to save Anzu, he couldn't stop for any reason, every minute counted. He missed her sleeping in his arms, her gentle caresses and her sharp whit. He missed her smile too, in the day he never really got to spend much time with her but if he saw her in passing she would simply smile at him and he'd smile back knowing it was only for him.
"My pharaoh" Seto called out. Atem looked back, he hadn't realised how much ahead of them he was. "What is it?" Atem said dryly pulling on the reins of his horse. "We need to rest, we need food and water and the guards have heat stroke"
Atem grunted to which Seto gave him a concerned look, "come on you know I'm right we all need rest and you as well, you'll be no good to Lady Anzu if your dehydrated and tired"
Atem sighed, he was right, off course! "Fine, but only for a little while, we cant afford to loose much time, if we continue on we should catch up with them shortly"
Making a camp they settled under the shade of a cliff. Atem sat on a blanket as the others ate bread and fruit and drank water. Mahad walked over to him and passed him some bread and water, "You need to eat Pharaoh" he said, "I know your worried about Anzu, we all are, she did after all put her life on the line many times to bring us valuable information and she is your friend, which makes her mine too"
Atem took the food and water, "your a good friend Mahad and thank you for not telling anyone about me and Anzu, not that it matters now"
Mahad sat down next to him and sighed, "I know you and Anzu can never truly be together or wed but isn't it a good thing that you spent time with her and got to love her whilst you had the chance, it sounds better than never being together at all"
Atem smiled thinking off all the time they had spent together when they were children and the first time he had realised he loved her. He was just the Prince then and his father was hosting a ball for the harvest festival one year. She had come walking down the long staircase in the palace wearing an ankle length pink dress which flowed around her ankles. Her arms were adorned with bracelets and Egyptian jewels and her hair was tied into a bun with some left hanging around her pale face. She was about fifteen, the very flower of becoming a woman, she truly was breath taking that day.
"I wouldn't change anything about my time with Anzu" Atem said smiling a little as memories flashed before him, "The only thing I would have changed is spending more time with her, I always put Egypt first, which is my job as its King but once in a while I need to put myself and Anzu first and if I never see her again..."
"you cant think like that" Mahad butted in, "no news is good news"
"marriage can not be undone" Atem said, "the gods forbid it"
"I know, but as you said Anzu is smart, she'll find a way to delay it until you can find her"
Atem nodded, he had to believe that was true for Anzu's sake and his own for he feared he might go insane.
Back in Libya:
Anzu had been seen by the High priests and the regents of Libya who confirmed her birth right, thanks to her birth mark and the fact that she was the apparent spitting image of her mother. Until now she had had her doubts about what Kaiser had told her but it was obvious that the High Priests would no lie. She couldn't believe it, she really was a Princess and Queen in her own right.
Kaiser had her under lock and key now though in the Libyan palace. She was brought food in the morning but since then she hadn't seen a sole. Her windows had been boarded pretty well so there was no chance of escaping through the windows. She could see the guards feet under the edge of the door so she couldn't exactly leave either.
With a sigh she changed into some leather pants, boots and a tunic that was clearly too big for her. She tucked it into her bottoms and huffed, they needed to find some clothes of her own size!
There was a connecting bathroom which had a small window, too small for her to climb out of and also too small for her to call Hawkeye. She looked around, perhaps there was something she could use as a weapon. She opened a drawer to a cabinet that was laced thick with dust, perhaps there was some sort of knife but there was nothing.
Looking around the room once again an idea popped into her head. She pushed back the commode to reveal a hole in the wall. 'Stupid idiots' she thought, 'they forgot to check here'. She poked her head out of the hole and looked down. It was quite a drop but there was a ledge to balance on. There was a window on the wall next to hers. Perhaps she could sneak into there and find a way out and perhaps there might be a weapon in there too!
She stuck her feet out first and dropped to the ledge with a thud. "What was that?" one of Kaiser's guard said from below. She breathed in and lent against the wall as much as possible as he looked up, "must have just been the wind" he said scratching the back of his head before talking to one of the other guards.
Anzu let out a breath she had been holding and balanced herself until she reached the window. She threw her legs over the windowsill and looked around the dark room which seemed to be empty of people thankfully. looking around she fount nothing of use, nothing she could use as a weapon anyway. The room seemed to be that of a guest bedroom. She found some ribbon which she used to tie up her hair, if she needed to make a run and hide then she could do it better with her hair out of her face.
Opening the door slowly she poked her head out to see that the corridor was empty. With a sigh of relief she walked into the corridor quietly. It looked familiar to her, it was the same corridor Kaiser had dragged her through earlier. Walking around the corridor and into the next she was immediately spotted by two guards. "quickly, after her" they shouted.
"damn it" Anzu muttered and ran the other way. She had to find a place to hide, the palace was so huge, there had to be somewhere Kaiser and his men weren't. 'where are you?' Atem Anzu thought, she hated to admit it but her faith for him rescuing her before the wedding ceremony was wearing thin.
Back with Atem:
Atem felt him self relax just a little as they passed the border to Libya. The capital was only a few hours ride, hopefully he could save Anzu before she was wed, he'd never forgive himself if he'd failed to protect her, failed to keep his promise. He didn't want to think of her married to another man, and at worse someone like the Nubian general who he knew to be a tyrant and considerably older than her. The thought of him being with her, touching her, it made him sick to the stomach.
"Are you alright my King?" Mahad asked stopping his horse. Atem composed himself as they all looked at him concerned.
"I am fine, let us ride on, we have no time to loose" he replied and whipped at the reins on his horse.
Author's Notes: Kaiser wont have much patience with Anzu after this, that's if he can find her! Next chapter will be quite tearful for Anzu as she finds out about her parents, will be up by Friday if I'm not too busy Playing DMC5 ha! Has anyone else played the Yu-Gi-Oh Legacy of the Duellist game on PS4/Xbox One? What other video games does everyone like to play? let me know if you write a review :)
