Hi everybody, thank you so much for staying with me!
I hope you will like this chapter as well, we are finally getting some Prince/Yugi times!
I know that iIm updating irregularly and frequently, but I really want to finish this story before I have to get back to work, so that I can be sure I won't abandon it due to lack of time. I hope you don't mind ^^"
Also, once again, thank you all for your comments, they are very precious to me!
Enjoy!
He left.
For the first time in her life, Anzu was alone.
They were supposed to be always together. She should've gone with him.
No. He should've stayed with her. He should've stayed with Mahad, with Serenity, in the house where he would be safe, where he could help.
He should be here with her, dreaming up possible scenarios of what would happen if they win. He should be joking with Mai about Mana's lack of cooking skills, he should be laughing in his own room with Anzu.
Yugi's place was here.
But he went to face the duke, because the prince wished it. Why would he need Yugi?
Anzu sighed.
They were gone, there was no point in questioning it now. Besides, it was only three hours. And they will know if something happened, right? The news travelled fast.
"Stop fretting, Anzu." She looked up from the book she was trying to read and came face to face with Mai. "I know it looks as if the boys went away to slay enemies and we are left here to worry about them, but life is not books." She said as she said down next to Anzu.
"What can we do then? Prepare the house for the siege? Slay a giant?" She joked, trying to get away from her own thoughts.
"Maybe." There was a dangerous twinkle in Mai's eye as she said it.
"What do you mean?"
"Why should we just stay here, pretending we are not worried when we can do something much more useful? Oh, don't look at me like that." She said noticing Anzu doubtful look." You and Serenity are not exactly best actresses here, your worry is evident. We can take some of your worries off by working."
"Working?"
Here, Mai rolled her eyes." Don't turn into Joey. Yes, working. We can move on with your training, Mahad is well enough to tutor Serenity, and I can introduce both of you to some other arts that would be useful later, if I know our prince as well as I think." Anzu was immediately reminded of the conversation she overheard (shamelessly eaves-dropped on) in the morning. If what Mai said then was true, then she was now still trying to make amends for what happened.
And besides, she hit the core of Anzu's concerns - feeling useless.
Yes, she was genuinely worried for her brother, but at the same time, now she could admit it, she felt envious. He was deemed worthy and important by the prince while she, who had done much more, was left behind. Not that Yugi was unimportant, gods no! But she thought... She thought that she had proven herself already, like Yugi said. Apparently not.
Or maybe he really was getting a chance to prove himself, and she didn't because she already had?
Her emotions were in turmoil, she almost forgot that a human heart can feel so many at once. Everything would be all right the moment Yugi comes back unscathed. Yes, everything will be back to normal then.
Except not.
He was getting more and more attached to the prince, he was attached to the rest of the knights, just like Anzu was. And with them he will change.
Maybe when, don't think 'if', he comes back, he will not be the same. Maybe she was stupid to think that their relationship would not be affected, maybe...
Stop. Enough.
She can prove her worth here with Mai's guidance, and wait for Yugi with all kindness and love he deserves. He promised her he will come back.
And maybe she really was overbearing and overprotective of him... Maybe he was feeling smothered, or worse, he thought she didn't believe in him and his strength? It wasn't like that, she was sure that he was strong, she herself envied him the strength of his spirit... But he was her baby brother.
She should let go of thinking him as a child. Neither of them was a child anymore.
"What do you have in mind?" She asked, new determination flowing in her veins. Mai's smile got wider.
"Can I borrow this book?"
Anzu, perplexed gave her the book.
The Cinderella engraved on the leather cover glimmered in the sunlight.
/
Yugi's enthusiasm lowered with every hour.
He had thousands of questions and no one but himself to answer them.
Timaeus and the prince were riding together, once in a while exchanging words in that strange language of the capital, while Joey and Mana acted as scouts.
Only now did the absurdity of what they were about to do got to him. How the five of them could go against a whole party that according to Timaeus was coming at them? And how they could know which way would duke pick? Where will he be looking for them? What if they just pass each other on the way? And who could guarantee that the duke would agree to play a game instead of using his strength in numbers to destroy the prince utterly?
Yugi was fed up with not knowing.
He decided to trust in the people around him and let go of his thoughts.
After all, it was his first time outside of town. When he was really small he had gone with his mother and Anzu to the port to see his father off, but that was it about his travels outside the house. Once they went to see Grandma in West, but Yugi could not recall much from it, so he took in everything they passed on their way.
It was strange, to see so many people, so many towns and villages and not recognize anything. At first, it filled Yugi with some kind of dread. He always knew that the world was bigger than what he saw every day, but it was two different things to know and to see. During their few escapes from Arkana, Anzu and Yugi managed only to come as far as the tower of the guard, less than 3 miles from their town. So for him, what he saw now riding through the seemingly endless fields was plainly amazing.
Anzu would want to see them too.
He will show her everything when it's over. They will travel the whole country, they will see the capital, maybe they will visit neighboring countries...
"You seem distracted." When Yugi lifted his head he saw that the prince was now riding next to him, Timaeus leading them, few yards ahead. Prince's face was grim and Yugi could not dismiss the obvious signs of discomfort. The sun, filling Yugi with joy, for the prince seemed to be a torture.
"Yes, Your Highness. I am thinking about the duke..." The prince nodded.
"And what troubles you?"
When Yugi voiced his concerns, the prince smiled slightly.
"See. I told you, you will make a great strategist some day." Yugi felt heat on his cheeks from the praise, but remained silent. " You are right, there is a possibility that duke will try to take us down the moment he sees us. I talked with Timaeus, he will take care of it." Yugi wanted to ask, but the prince continued. "Finding the duke would be our greatest problem. There are few roads he could pick and it depends on what Joey's carelessness told him, which one he will choose. Timaeus' people went to aid Ishizu so we cannot count on them to observe the party's movement and simply warn us."
"What do we do, then?" The prince gestured to the horizon.
"In about half an hour we will come to the main Northern tract. There we will split, each choosing different path. There is a great possibility that duke's men have already passed the Maze City and we must lure them there back. In the town, the rules will be on our side." Yugi nodded. He had no idea what rules the prince was talking about, but he trusted the man's judgment as long as it wasn't about people's lives.
"I promised you safety, so you will go with me." Yugi's heart skipped a beat at that, but the prince had already turned towards Mana approaching him with report from her scouting.
From what Yugi heard, there were no sightings of any party passing through these lands yet. They weren't too late. That was a relief.
When they've reached the crossroads, the prince told his plan to Joey and Mana. They seemed to agree with it, although Joey had some trouble with remembering how to get to the Maze City. Yugi had never thought about it before, but Joey probably haven't left their little town as well, at least after his father died.
"Be careful, Yugi." He said finally when he started on his own path. " I trust you to keep him safe, Your Highness." He bowed his head to the prince and went on his way.
"So... We'll see each other in the Maze City, right?" Asked Mana, her enthusiasm sounding forced.
"I certainly hope so." The prince answered." Come, Yugi. "Timaeus just waved at them, joining Mana for a moment to tease her about something, judging from her outraged shouts. They seemed to get along quite well, considering they haven't seen each other since they were kids.
"Good luck, Mana!" Yugi shouted as goodbye and followed the prince to the forest they were supposed to ride through.
The moment they entered the woods, Yugi understood why the prince picked this way. It was much darker, the sunrays barely shining through the trees, so that he could hardly see a thing. The prince immediately looked more at ease.
Yugi didn't know why, but he himself also felt better, now that there was only two of them. He trusted Joey and Mana, but the same couldn't be said about the prince's cousin.
"Your Highness?" He tried, hoping that the prince would not feel offended by mere boy doubting his royal kin. On the other hand, he asked Yugi to be his advisor. So that was Yugi's job to point out any possible threats.
"Yes, Yugi?"
"Why is Timaeus helping us?" The prince was taken aback by the question. He was silent for a while, as if debating with himself. Yugi for am moment wondered, whether he should have call Timaeus by his royal title. It didn't fit him.
The prince turned towards Yugi.
"Truth is, I don't know. I asked him for help when we were in Arcadia, and he promised to aid me. We were always pretty close, at least from what I remember from before, so it is no wonder that he'd side with us, especially if his mother is against Aknadin. Yet you are right, his spies would have been enough. He has to have some other motive to be here. I don't doubt his loyalty." Here, the prince gave Yugi a significant look, which informed Yugi about eventual consequences of Yugi doubting the royal cousin.
"Yet I think there is something else in motion and we must keep our eyes and ears open."
"As you wish, Your Highness."
They rode in silence for a while. The forest seemed to have no end and Yugi highly doubted that any troops would want to go through it, even if it was the quickest way to their town. On the other hand, if duke knew about prince's aversion to the light, and didn't know where the prince was, he could just assume that they were hiding in a forest of some kind.
His thoughts went back to the problem with Timaeus. He truly seemed honest and honorable, and Yugi felt bad for suspecting him of anything, but there was something that was not adding up. Why would an heir to the throne of one country aid heir of a different one with spies, but not an army? True, family relations and all that, but looking at the prince's history, royalty usually didn't care much for blood where it came to talking the throne. Was Timaeus trying to usurp the throne? What was his angle? And why was he here alone, without his knights?
"We should stop for a moment." Came the prince's voice, and Yugi noticed that they were standing on a small meadow with a little stream splashing nearby. " The horses deserve a break."
Yugi agreed and jumped down from Gazelle.
True to Timaeus' words, the horse despite its appearance didn't betray any internal need of stomping on Yugi or killing him in any other violent manner. It would take a while until he could get used to it for good, but there was some kind of understanding here. Mostly because Gazelle seemed to be as tired as Yugi felt most of the time.
Yugi could ride a horse, but usually it was a recreational hobby, not a way of transportation. He could feel the aching of his muscles and wondered, if he would be able to get back on the horse without crying in pain.
If he only could, he would rest here for few hours, he would take a nap, eat something and then try.
Unfortunately, they couldn't afford such luxuries.
He reached for the bag Anzu gave them, to get food, but his hand found his own bag instead. His both decks were on the surface and without thinking, Yugi took them out.
He went on with his task, and with disappointment he noticed that most of the food Anzu gave them was meant to be cooked or roasted, unless they wanted to eat raw meat. He was ready to give up, when he noticed apples. He took them out and approached the prince, intending to share his findings with the man.
The prince was busy talking to his horse in a quiet voice and only when Yugi came nearer, he could hear that strange language. The horse however seemed to understand it, or at least be accustomed to it. The animal was touching its head to the prince's affectionately, and Yugi was now sure that it must've belonged to the prince in the past.
He offered the apple to the man, but he refused it with a shake of his head.
"I got him for my fifteenth birthday." Yugi was unprepared for this, so he just murmured something in agreement. " It's a wonder he remembers me, we were parted one year later." A that Yugi almost gasped.
The prince was sixteen when he was captured and put in darkness by his own uncle. That was... shocking.
And Yugi could only blame himself for being ignorant of this . The prince seemed to be only slightly older than Anzu, so he must've been quite young when all of that happened.
Only now the true gravity of prince's cruel fate was clear to Yugi; it truly was no wonder that the man came out almost insane. A wave of sympathy hit Yugi.
He truly didn't know what to feel for the prince at the moment, his previous two images of the man were now joined by the third, one of a young boy betrayed by his own kin, left alone in complete darkness with no one but himself and his thoughts as companions.
Yugi feared the prince.
He admired the man.
He pitied the boy.
But they were all in one person, and Yugi wasn't sure how to describe his feelings for that person.
All he knew was that he felt safe and afraid at the same time, sure that the prince will protect him from anything.
Anything, aside from himself.
Like a rabbit who befriended a wolf, he was sure no other predator could ever harm him. Other than the wolf.
And yet, he didn't want to run.
Far from it.
He briefly wondered whether Anzu also felt this way about the prince, and the same pang of jealousy he felt before, came back.
He always shared everything with Anzu. They were together throughout their childhood, they were together when Arkana came. They shared blood, parents, memories and home. And he treasured and loved all of this, but couldn't he keep the prince just for himself? Couldn't he have someone who treated Yugi as something special? Someone with whom he could share memories and conversations just of their own?
For a while, he had that. His evening talks and games with the prince, their night walks.
And then, Anzu went behind Yugi's back and now she also shared a 'conversation of their own with the prince.'
She had no right...
Jealousy quickly turned into guilt and shame, just like it did before.
She had every right, and the prince was a person. Yugi couldn't demand of him to only pay attention to Yugi.
But he could dream.
"You are silent." The prince observed, and Yugi came back to reality.
"I am sorry, Your Highness.." He started, but the prince just shook his head.
"No need to apologize. What's on your mind?"Yugi's mind was frantically searching for something that would not give away what was he really thinking about. Something, anything. Timaeus was out of question, so was Anzu... Ah, found it!
" You seem confident that the duke would want to play a game with you instead of just killing us all, Your Highness. Why?" At that, the prince chuckled, a twinge of something dark in his voice.
"Yugi, that's why I want you to be here with me." Yugi's traitorous heart skipped a beat at that."
I want you to see what I see. The duke is just a man. And as a man, he has his fallacies. For example, he worships Crawford, his teacher. And Crawford long ago proclaimed that the only person who could be worthy of Crawford's praise is me."
"Why... Not that I doubt his words!" Yugi rushed to say. That startled a small laugh from the prince.
"Because Crawford is not a fighter. He can handle a sword, but that's it. He is a strategist. A very good one, the best if you asked me. He taught Otogi, the future Duke of Devlin, everything he knew. Yet strategy cannot be taught. It is a skill, it is thinking not only ahead, but also at the moment, finding new solutions as you stand, changing them according to the situation." Yugi wondered, why he never noticed before how wise the prince was. Then he remembered what 'wise' meant for the prince, and abandoned the thought.
"Otogi is good at planning. But he cannot improvise. And because he thinks only ahead, he is predictable and quite lost when something doesn't go according to plan. Crawford noticed it. Around that time I was fighting the Clan of Ogres on our Southern borders." Yugi had no idea, what Clan of Ogres was, but he was getting used to his lack of knowledge.
"We prepared an ambush, but things didn't go as I predicted. Our ambush changed into theirs. But we managed to get out due to a simple trick. The story got around and Crawford told Otogi that I had something Otogi will never have. That was enough to set the duke off." The prince left Osiris and sat down near the stream, gesturing Yugi to follow him.
"Otogi tried to challenge me to prove Crawford wrong. I declined, because I had better things to do with my time. Now he sees the chance to bring me to Crawford humiliated and defeated. He is desperate for his teacher's praise, so I assume he will come out of his way to get me. Crawford is almost like a father to him."
Was it really so simple? Were people truly that predictable, could one man foresee their moves, as if they were just figures in a game- if you know the way they move, you can predict what they do? Were people nothing more? Was Yugi nothing more?
"Are you better than Crawford?" He asked instead.
The prince laughed darkly.
Then, the red eyes bored into Yugi's own with a strange, almost unreal force.
"What do you think?" Any other person would say that they don't know, or would try to stay modest. But not the prince, who was brilliant in his arrogance. Yes, it was arrogance, but since he had never lost, it was somehow justified and Yugi couldn't fault him for that.
Besides, not that Yugi had any experience, but from what he could see, the prince was probably right. If he planned his moves like he did in cards, then he truly must be exceptional. On the other hand, Crawford, that nameless, faceless for Yugi threat, was something unknown and dangerous. The prince was talking about him with a dose of respect, and that was new.
"I want us to play a game as long as we are waiting here." Yugi perked up at that and reached to his pockets for the decks he took from his bag. He immediately handed the Falcon one to the prince.
"What shall we play?" He asked excitedly. That! That was something only for him and the prince, something that they shared with themselves and no one else!
"Something new. I call it 'Sacrifice'." Feeling of dread entered Yugi's heart. That sounded... Dark and it evoked unpleasant memories. He had never played this game before, but considering past events, Yugi wasn't sure if he's going to like it.
"The rules are quite simple. You deal all the cards. Both players must protect their hearts. A player who ends the game with less hearts on the hand, loses. We throw the cards as we want, of course, color to color: spades to spades, clubs to clubs, simple, right?" Yugi nodded. It sounded nice enough, so why the name? "But. If you run out of the color your opponent is setting on the table, you must give him one of hearts." Now, Yugi understood. The game was meant to provoke the opponent to give away the hearts by finding out, which color was the shortest on opponent's hand. To win, aside from luck, one must pay attention to which cards were already played. If there were fifty-two cards in the deck, then there were thirteen of each color, so he only had to remember...
"However. Since you are supposed to be learning here, let's make the game more interesting." The memories of prince's previous 'interesting games' flashed through Yugi's mind. But the prince couldn't possibly mean...
"Every queen you have is Anzu. Every queen I have, is Mana. Your King is Joey, my king is Mahad. Your ace is Haga, my ace is Panic. " That gave Yugi a pause. What was the point? It didn't change the rules so...
And then, it hit him.
The prince was teaching him strategy.
If the hearts were people, the kingdom subjects, it was their job to protect them, only this way they could win. To protect the hearts, they will have to use different cards, sacrificing them for the sake of hearts. And by giving the cards names...
It was prince's way of explaining his choices to Yugi. But why did he pick Haga and Panic as aces? Shouldn't the ace be the strongest, the dearest, most protected card?
They started their game.
Yugi had eight hearts on his hand. That meant that the prince had only five. With advantage of two cards, Yugi should have a chance to win.
He looked at his other cards. He had plenty of clubs and very few spades, and not much more diamonds. But if he had the majority of clubs, then prince's hand was short on them. It was almost too easy.
He started with jack of clubs.
He had the queen and the king, so the prince could only give ten or something smaller. He would run out of clubs soon enough.
Then, when only queen and king are left of Yugi's clubs, he will start with diamonds, saving his Anzu and Joey and getting prince's hearts. It was not that complicated.
"It's mine." Said the prince simply, and took the jack with his ace of clubs.
"Why?" Yugi asked, not understanding. Weren't they trying to protect aces, kings and queens? Shouldn't they...
And then it downed on him.
"That's why aces are Panics and Hagas." He said, looking into prince's eyes, searching for confirmation. At the moment, they were just sparkling with curiosity." They are the easiest to sacrifice and can inflict damage on their own color." Triumphant look in the prince's eyes told Yugi that he was right.
So the prince really did look at life as a game of cards.
Everything he did, he did to protect his subjects, his hearts. And surprisingly, without the human factor, Yugi understood. They played for a while, and Yugi without hesitation sacrificed his Hagas and his knights, his ordinary cards. At some point, he sacrificed his Joey's and once, one of his queens.
He never won, but he quickly noticed, that if he was too caught up in protecting his cards, he lost hearts. The more he sacrificed his cards, the more hearts he managed to save.
Was that the only difference between him and the prince?
Shift of focus?
Was Yugi caring too much about cards while the prince cared about hearts?
Was that why their beliefs differ so much?
Yugi observed the prince as stealthily as he could during their game, but there was nothing on man's face that could betray any hesitation.
Was it planning ahead?
Was it improvisation?
During their seventh, or eighth round, the prince jumped to his feet.
"They are coming." He whispered and ran to Osiris, leading the animal out of the meadow into the shadows of the trees.
Yugi's heart flared with panic, how could they go against the whole party? What was he even doing here? They should run, they should... He followed the prince, trying to find any spot to hide. They've been found!
"Yugi, listen to me now." Yugi immediately calmed himself down, focusing on the worried note in the prince's tone. "I want you to take Osiris now, leave Gazelle here. They won't do him any harm." Yugi's mind couldn't exactly process what the prince was saying, for he too could now hear the noise of few dozen feet marching towards them.
"Yugi!" The prince urged, and Yugi tried once again to focus on his words." Ride to the Maze City, inform Timaeus and the rest that I've been taken and I'll try to steer duke to the city. If we do not appear tomorrow, tell Timaeus to find you and your family a shelter. Do you understand?" Yugi nodded. " We shall be at the Paradox Fields tomorrow, wait for me there." Yugi nodded once again, understanding the words, but not meaning behind them. Why was the prince talking as if he was going to stay?
"Good. Now, take this." Here, the prince took off his golden pyramid and put its chain around Yugi's neck. It was quite heavy, Yugi thought, and then, he heard the horns blowing.
"It is just in case. Protect it. It's my heirloom, without it, I am nothing." White panic filled Yugi's head.
"I cannot... What can I.. I am weak...!" He was silenced with strong arms being put around him. The embrace grounded him somehow, his heartbeat still erratic, but his mind clearer than before.
"You are far stronger than you give yourself credit for. I chose you, because I trust you to do what is right. Now, go." Then, he let go of Yugi. Still shocked, his nerves flaring with need to bolt and disappointment at the loss of contact, Yugi nodded and jumped on Osiris' back. The prince said something to the horse in his language, and turned on his feet, heading back to the meadow.
It was as if he knew, as if everything...went..according to plan...
"Did you know? Did you know that he will find you here? That's why you sent everyone else to different roads?"
The prince's response was in his arrogant, self-assured smirk.
"Go, Yugi."
And Yugi did not argue.
He kicked Osiris' sides and as fast as he could, turned in the direction of the crossroads. The pyramid was heavy on his chest, hitting him with every jump Osiris made.
He was almost out of the forest when he heard the triumphant cheers coming from behind.
But he didn't stop.
It was the game of 'Sacrifice' and it was the prince's gambit.
All Yugi could do was to swallow the tears running down his cheek, calm his mind and go to the Maze City, hanging on his faith in the best strategist in the world.
So, I wanted to ask you guys, just out of curiosity:
Any ideas what Timaeus' motives are?
Who do you think is right? The prince, or Yugi? Whose worldview is closer to yours?
Also, there's no game called 'Sacrifice', I made it up from the rules of Polish card game 'Kierki' and my own invention, and I cannot guarantee it works as a game, I'd have to check that someday, so if you see any logical mistakes, please forgive me.