Another chapter. :D Hope everyone enjoys! Author's note is at the bottom, since I wanted to mention something but it would spoil what you're about to read. ;) Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Five:
The halls of the Palace practically rang with silence. The boy wandered through the empty corridors, footsteps sounding too loud against the silence. All of the inhabitants had either gone to the northern borders to attack the flank of the false gods' forces or remained behind to direct the overall strategy of the Egyptian forces.
A maid hurried by, bowing in the boy's direction as she continued on her way. Turning around the corner he slipped into the war room, which had only recently been dusted off for use. Inside was a chaotic mess when compared to the stillness outside. Blinking, he looked around.
Boredom had finally driven him here. Mana was busy; being Mahad's student gave her added responsibilities, especially in wartime although the boy had to admit that he was glad she hadn't been sent to the front. Her activities, however, had left him without anyone to talk to.
He hastily dodged an advisor who ran by carrying a massive handful of documents, continuing to make his way forward. Seto and Mahad had both joined his Father on the front lines along with Akhenaden, Shada, and Karim. Shimon, Isis, and Auset remained behind as strategists.
As he finally arrived at the strategy table, he hesitated. Isis was sitting at the table, the Millennium Necklace around her neck as she concentrated, trying to see the future.
"Where's Auset?" he asked, frowning as he moved up beside her.
"Lady Auset is feeling poorly this morning. I will be using the Millennium Necklace in her place." Isis replied, before opening her eyes. "As for you, my Prince, I believe you were asked not to come here."
Sighing the boy responded, "There's no one to talk to. The entire Palace is empty. Please do not make me leave…" he trailed off, trying hard not to plead.
Isis watched him before also letting out a sigh. "Very well, however if Master Shimon asks you to leave I expect you to obey him."
He nodded, hastily moving out of Shimon's way as the older priest joined them at the table. The Millennium Key was missing, and the boy supposed that he had passed it along to his successor, Shada, before the fighting.
Soon, the group around the table began to discuss the movements of the troops, using models to signify both Khemet's armies as well as those of the false gods.
Listening in, the boy stared at the table in front of him, reminded of the games he would play with Seto; a small smile crossing his face at the memory. Suddenly, an argument broke out between two of the generals.
"If we move forward, we leave the flank open to attack!" one of them stated, glaring across the table.
"No, the troops can withdraw after they attack the enemy, covering their retreat." The other retorted angrily.
The boy, along with the others at the table, listened to the argument as it began to escalate. Biting his lip, he glanced at the table again, frowning down at the layout before hesitantly speaking up, silence falling as he began to talk.
"If you simply move the troops forward to attack, then the enemy can immediately flank using this troop. They've left it purposefully where it is to allow for such a maneuver, expecting us to see a target and attempt to attack. Likely, they have a means of quickly getting behind us."
The second general looked smugly over at his peer, however the smile vanished as the boy kept speaking. "However, if you move this troop over slightly, as though flanking the other cohort nearby, they can then sweep in when the enemy flanks, trapping them between two groups and forcing them to fight on two lines of scrimmage. After finishing off the enemy flanking them, both groups can then quickly attack the original target and retreat back to our line of defense for reinforcements."
The room was silent, all of the generals staring at him, and the boy shifted uncomfortably. Finally, talking broke out as each person began to discuss what he'd said. The boy glanced over at Isis apologetically, wondering if she would get in trouble for allowing him to stay. Suddenly, the sudden silence around the table caught his attention again, and he slowly looked back find the eyes of the entire table on him once more.
"Well, my Prince, what do you think of the remainder of the strategy we've discussed so far." Shimon commented, watching him with a bland expression. The boy gulped silently, wondering how much trouble he was in for, although for as long as he'd known Shimon his tutor had never tried to embarrass him for his mistakes.
"Well… I think most of it is sound, except I would have Seto lead the smaller back-up forces during the main assault. He is a good strategist, and works well with few directions, not to mention the fact that he will react quickly to any surprises the enemy might have."
Silence followed, before Shimon suddenly smiled. "My Prince, I think I speak on behalf of all of us here when I say that your presence during meetings would be a great asset." Eyes widening, the boy nodded.
Talk began again, and the boy felt a thrill of excitement. Finally, he could feel useful.
Yami yawned tiredly, rolling out of the bed. Jet lag reminded him once again how much he hated travelling. Since they were not going through the Star Gate that day, he supposed he had been allowed to sleep in. Yawning again, he got dressed and headed for the door. Upon opening it, however, he blinked in surprise, feeling no traces of sleep left. Seto was leaning against the wall across from his door, watching him calmly.
"Seto…" he stated finally, wondering why the other was waiting for him. Sure, Seto had begun to open up, but last Yami knew they weren't at the point where Seto would actually stoop to waiting for him to get up.
"Yami." Was the blunt reply as Seto pushed himself off of the wall, drawing himself to his full height as he stared down at the smaller boy.
Rubbing his eyes slightly to remove the last traces of sleep, Yami began to head for the mess hall, deciding that whatever Seto wanted he would probably say it in his own time. That time was apparently after breakfast, as Yami ate in silence with occasional glances at his unlikely companion. It wasn't until he had finished that Seto spoke.
"I have things I wish to discuss with you. You will follow me to a place where we can talk in private." Seto stated, already walking off. Yami hastily followed, dropping off his tray as he practically raced after Seto. The other man's steps were quick and purposeful, and Yami couldn't help but feel as though the speed was due in part to excitement, although why he couldn't say. Certainly Seto hadn't done anything to make him think so.
Seto led him through the corridors until finally leading Yami into an empty room. Turning, he smirked.
"I heard Mahad told you about Shadow Magic yesterday." Before Yami could even respond, shadows suddenly swirled up around them and suddenly they were in a realm of shifting purple shadows, with little visible beyond their immediate vicinity.
"Welcome to the shadow realm." Seto smirked, continuing to watch Yami's expression. "Here we can talk without being overheard."
Yami stared around him, momentarily speechless. "You brought us here!?" he demanded, feeling stunned. He had seen this realm once before, however the circumstances surrounding his first visit had been… Uncomfortable to say the least.
Seto shrugged, obviously either not noticing or caring about Yami's discomfort. "It is a place where all who can use shadow magic can summon. Besides, I did not want our conversation to be overheard."
Pursing his lips slightly, Yami slowly turned back towards his companion, fighting his unease. "Very well… What do you have to say?" he asked, wondering if he should have really followed Seto after all…
"Mahad came back to inform us of what you told him last night. Both what he told you as well as what Kisara claims both seem to support the fact that, in a previous life, you were our Pharaoh. I do not know how you were reborn into this time, however the dreams you described to the idiotic mage were actual events which each of us can remember."
Yami stared, briefly wondering if this was a joke before dismissing the idea. Seto wasn't the type to joke, especially not about something as important to him as this. "So, you're trying to say that I was your… king five-thousand years ago?" he asked, more for clarification than to make light of what Seto was saying. A part of him knew he should be at least disbelieving, if not convinced that Seto was crazy. However, that had been before he had walked through a gate that had taken him into the stars to other worlds, before Pegasus had challenged him over the puzzle…
Nodding, Seto watched him quietly, almost discerningly, as though looking for some sort of sign. Yami glanced away after a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts.
"I don't understand… Osiris is the keeper of the Afterlife. Why would he allow a soul to be reborn?" Yami asked finally, looking up.
"The soul of our Pharaoh was never sent to the Afterlife, for he was not truly killed… Instead he sealed himself away, as well as shadow magic, that the power might no longer be used to harm the people of Khemet." Seto responded, not hesitating.
Although he had the sneaking suspicion that he wasn't being told everything, Yami let the matter drop. Looking around him, he changed the subject.
"You said that any shadow mage could summon the shadow realm, so what exactly does it do? I saw Pegasus use it to increase the stakes of our match, but how does it work?"
Smirking, Seto replied, "The shadow realm is a place where shadow creatures known as Kas, your 'Duel Monsters', stay. They can be summoned from this realm into the world by sacrificing ba. Once in the shadow realm, games can be played for power with the stakes going to almost unimaginable levels."
"Mahad said I could learn." Yami stated, not even bothering to actually ask the question.
Nodding, Seto turned, "If you want, I can begin to teach you how to control your power. When you summoned a shadow creature while facing Marik you did so without fully controlling your ba, hence the reason why you fainted afterwards."
Yami smiled. "I want to learn." He stated firmly. "I want to be able to protect myself as well as my friends."
"Well then, we should get started." Seto commented, smirking once again. "Are you ready, Pharaoh?" Yami didn't even realize what Seto had called him until later, instead responding as easily as though he had been called the title his whole life.
"Of course."
Jack made a face, peering around the room. "Seriously, Daniel? You really need to clean up."
Said person sighed, continuing to peer through a book. "I'll get to it, Jack. Besides, this is organized! I can find things when I need to…" He trailed off, frowning before setting down the book and reaching for another.
"Yeah… That's why we've spent the whole day looking for the one book you need." Jack responded, letting out a groan. "It's not even in English, so I don't see why the rest of us are here."
Carter glanced up. "Because, Sir, what Daniel remembers the book containing might be important. Apparently it was buried near the Star Gate, but no one remembers exactly where or why. Apparently one of the leaders after the goa'uld were driven out wrote a manuscript about the events, although most of the book had been destroyed by the time it was uncovered. It could contain valuable information."
"Aha!" Daniel suddenly cried, interrupting Jack's response. Standing, he blew dust off the book in a large cloud, brushing at the rest. "This is, of course, a copy of the original but hopefully it was translated accurately."
Opening the book, he skimmed forward before beginning to read. "…In the suns before the final battle to drive out the false gods and their followers, preparations were made. With much speed, messengers of the God on Earth were dispatched to find strong spirits and criminals, all of whom were brought to the Palace. One was of note: a girl dressed in rags with skin as of the moon, young but with the hair of an elder appeared with a strong ka. She was granted hospitality of the Palace, and her spirit burned brightly in the skies during the battle…"
"Uhhhh… So?" Jack finally commented as Daniel finished, looking around him. "They wax poetically about a girl. Wouldn't you, if you thought you were going to die? Honestly, even an old crone would probably look heavenly."
"Jack, listen to the description: 'a girl dressed in rags with skin as of the moon, young but with the hair of an elder…' Who does that remind you of?"
Jack blinked, frowning. "So, a girl dressed in rags with cratered skin?" he began before Daniel shook his head impatiently.
"Come on! It's obvious; a girl with white skin and white hair appeared. Pale skin like ours would have been surprising for anyone in Egypt, as the people who were living in what we now call Europe didn't often trade with them. It would have been something to note, but that's not what I meant… Jack, our goa'uld were around at that time. The girl who appeared the other day knows one of our goa'uld…"
Eyes widening, Carter broke in, "You're trying to say that she ascended fighting the goa'uld on Earth." she stated, slowly leaning back. Daniel nodded.
"It seems likely… I mean, how much of a coincidence are we willing to believe in?"
Jack frowned. "Hey Daniel, what does it say about how they defeated the goa'uld?" he demanded, curious despite himself. "I mean, if we knew how they were defeated the first time we could use that threat of that weapon to keep them from attacking us, problem solved."
"Unfortunately, the entire end of the scroll was destroyed… Bits and pieces were translated, but nothing legible besides a few words: 'demon', 'sun', 'Ra', and 'sorrow'. This was one of the passages that was the most preserved, and as you can see there was only a few lines."
Before he could respond, a knock was heard at the door. "Colonel O'Neil? General Hammond would like to see you and your team in his office as soon as possible."
Teal'c stood, finally speaking. "Why would General Hammond wish to see us? There are no alarms."
"Yeah, well let's go see then." Jack propelled himself out of the chair, soon leading the way to Hammond's office. After receiving permission to enter, he walked in and saluted.
"General."
"At ease, Colonel." Hammond replied. "I want you to come over here and take a look at this."
He motioned to something on the screen in front of him, and Jack moved over to get a closer look, Carter following. On the screen, a giant purplish mass of writhing something loomed, blocking the entire view. After a few moments, he blinked.
"Well, I would have to say that either someone made way too much jello, or I'll need a little more information." He managed.
"One of the goa'uld, Seto, led Yami into the room. We had them on camera until he mentioned something about shadow magic and suddenly they were covered with this… whatever it is."
"They mentioned that they had magic to us, however I can only assume this is an example of it…" Jack trailed off with a frown. "Do we really trust him alone with Yami? I mean, he might go all snaky on the kid or something."
The group exchanged glances before Carter sighed. "If Yami trusted him enough to follow him into an empty room, I suppose we should give him the benefit of the doubt. He's a smart kid, Sir. Besides, I doubt Seto would want to jeopardize the alliance yet… Hopefully…" she added.
Hopefully is right. Jack thought. From the looks of things, they were going to need all the hope they could get.
So, hope you enjoyed it! Just wanted to explain why Atem was able to help with the strategy and was allowed to stay. Firstly, he does have a good grasp of strategy as it pertains to games, and as he mentions he plays Seto in strategy games all of the time. Secondly, as heir to the throne, he would have been taught strategy as well as whatever else he might need to one day step up and rule the kingdom. That was sort of my thought process behind everything. And anyone who catches the reference to the purple people eater gets a cookie! Thanks for reading, and please review!