"I understand you and the prince have been communicating using the Shadows."
Seth's concentration on his spell faltered, and the Shadows that had been supporting him in chair form unraveled instantly, dumping him unceremoniously to the floor. Ignoring the pain, he stared up at Lord Aknadin.
The High Priest gave an uncharacteristic snort. "Don't look so startled, boy. I would have to be blind to ignore all the attention that he's paying to you."
"I…I didn't tell him about my magic, Lord Aknadin."
Aknadin shook his head, and the golden eye flashed. "No doubt he knew once you agreed to play a game with him. I am not angry, Seth," he added with a sigh when Seth continued to watch him carefully. "Some day, he will be your king, and your loyalty must be to him. If a Shadow connection will cement that loyalty, so be it." Then his human eye narrowed. "But you will do it safely and quietly, as I teach you, or not at all."
Be careful, he wanted to say as Seth nodded with a "Yes, Lord Aknadin," and rose to his feet. Atem is so strong.
But so are you, he thought a moment later, with a surge of pride. So are you.
"What are you doing? Did your master send you after me? I already told him what he wanted to know."
"And what was that, little boy? What did you tell His Majesty that has him paying you…" and here fingers tugged at the money bag in the boy's belt, "with anything more than your worthless life?"
"Give that back! And get your hands off me! It's not my fault if your master doesn't tell you anything."
"Call him my master one more time, and I'll go fishing with your guts."
"…."
"What. Did. You. Tell. Bakura?"
"I…The prince has a new scribe, some brat from the city. Manu the guard has gambling debts…" The boy rattled of a string of other gossip and news, and Tou shook his head. There was too much, and no way of knowing which pieces of information Bakura valued. Wait.
"This guard. Where's his post?"
"S-south gate."
The quietest of the palace gates. Tou felt a shiver run down his spine. What mad plan did Bakura have this time? Surely he wasn't going to try to lead them inside the palace? Tou stared at the wide-eyed boy and briefly considered killing him. Maybe without a source of information…No. Young and crazy as he was, Bakura knew how to win cooperation. He'd just find another. But Tou refused to let this conversation go to waste.
"From now on, you report to me after you talk to His Majesty. Understand?"
"He'll kill me if he finds out!"
Tou snorted. "Then don't let him find out."
"I-if I'm going to risk it, I want something from you in return."
Tou barked a laugh, reluctantly admiring the boy's gall. "What?"
"I-I don't know yet. But you help me and I'll help you." The boy's attempt to sound firm and threatening was somewhat spoiled by the slight quaver in his voice.
Tou shrugged and flipped his knife as he stepped away. "I'll think about it."
It might be useful to have a willing spy in the palace.
Head bowed over the latest practice tablet, Seth absently flexed on aching hand, then the other, before continuing with the transcription. That line was too curved…rub out the mistakes in the damp clay and start again…
"Seth?"
He started at the unexpected voice and looked around wildly for a moment before pinpointing the source: a tap against his mental walls. Seth immediately dipped his head back towards his tablet, conscious of Master Paki watching him with an odd expression.
"Are… you sure that Ma…ster… Paki… cannot…hear us?" Seth's writing unconsciously slowed as he struggled to make the words come across clearly.
"Of course! Seth could picture the smirk that accompanied the words. Do you doubt your future king?"
Although he wasn't even in the room, probably not even on the same floor, the prince's voice was clear as a bell, almost as though he were standing inside Seth's mental walls. As always, the prince's power left Seth both jealous and impressed. He used the magic so off-handedly, and seemed to have no trouble with control.
"Seth?"
"My…prince?"
"Well? Do you doubt me?"
Seth made his voice as bland and innocent as possible."You… have more… experience… than… I do… with magic…Your Highness."
"That is not an answer!"'
Seth." It took Seth a moment to realize that this voice was not a mental one, and that Master Paki now stood beside him. "Why have you stopped writing?"
"Resting my hand briefly, Master Paki," Seth said, cursing inwardly when he realized Paki was right. He had not even noticed.
The master eyed him narrowly. "Is something wrong?"
"No, Master Paki."
The conciliating tone and use of his master's title appeared to appease his tutor somewhat. The man's face softened. "Are you tired, boy?"
"No," Seth lied. He imagined the prince's response to that if he could hear it, and thanked the gods that Shadow Magic was not true telepathy.
A brief smile twisted Paki's mouth. "Either you are a child of the gods yourself," he said, "Or you are lying to me."
Seth did not quite know what to say to that.
Paki turned to the rest of his students. "Class is dismissed for the day. Return at dawn tomorrow."
As Seth began to rise, he gestured sharply. "Not you."
Seth sank back into his chair, his stomach clenching. He felt the prince's attention turn to him, conscious of his distress if not of the reason behind it.
Seth?
Don't…Seth started to send back sharply, and then forced himself to soften his mental tone.Please…not…now, my…prince. And before the prince could reply, he deliberately disentangled himself from the the Shadows.
Paki watched the last few students leave before turning back to Seth. "Your abilities are far beyond what I would expect from a peasant," he said after a moment of silence.
"My mother…"
"Taught you," Paki said impatiently. "I know. And your background is not truly important. What is important is whether you have the stamina to handle the training as a scribe. I refuse to teach the sacred script to someone easily distractible or who cannot keep pace."
A fire burned in Seth's stomach, erasing any trace of nervousness or fear. Immortality so close, and Paki dared question his desire for it, for the knowledge it would bring?* He stood, not looming, but firm and immovable as he met his teacher's eyes.
"Have I ever," he demanded, "given an indication that I could not keep pace before today? I have never complained, never made the same mistake twice, and can write more quickly and neatly than anyone here." Some timid part of him told him to stop there, but pride and honesty drove him to add, "And I will find some way keep on learning." Because I won't tolerate anything in my way.
He expected anger, but to his surprise, Paki's face creased in a satisfied smile. "Good," he breathed.
It took Seth a long moment to understand. "Then you will teach me."
Paki laid his hand on Seth's shoulder. "Oh yes. I'll teach you everything."
From then on, the days and weeks flew past. There was so much to learn, and Seth consumed it all with an avarice that outstripped any other passion. The prince's birthday came and went and was celebrated with miraculous pomp and circumstance. It registered to Seth only because he was dragged from his studies to compose thank you notes to those who had given the prince gifts, and to inventory the new treasures.
"SETH!"
Seth cried out involuntarily and flung his hands up to his ears, an automatic and utterly useless reflex when the sound was in his head. Scroll and pen went flying. Seth staggered, bumped the table. The ink pot shattered on the floor. But Seth ignored it, because the prince's cry came again, still deafeningly loud and taut with some unrecognizable emotion. Pain? Fear?
"SETH!"
"My prince, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" Seth reached out frantically with his own Shadows, trying to determine a possible threat.
"Father says I'm to begin Shadow Summoning tomorrow! Real Shadow Summoning, like Shimon, Baruti, Ramla…."
And Seth registered the emotion in the prince's voice. Not pain or fear. Excitement. And with that realization, his anger rose. He fought back the instinctive shouted response, then the snarled one that came after. When he spoke, he was astonished at how calm he sounded.
"Congratulations, Your Highness. Forgive me, but I need to return to work."
Then, picturing the tallest, thickest mental wall he could, he closed off their connection.
"Congratulations, Your Highness?" the prince asked incredulously, entering the room perhaps ten minutes later. "That's it? I thought you would be more excited. I thought…" He faltered as a pottery shard from the inkwell crunched under his feet. His crimson eyes swept the room, noting the pile Seth had carefully swept up. "Seth? What happened?"
Voice flat, Seth told him. "Fortunately, I was not barefoot, Your Highness. It would have created more of a mess."
The prince's crimson eyes widened as he pictured the bloody situation Seth's words suggested. "You are not hurt?"
"No, Your Highness." He debated carrying the pieces outside to be destroyed properly, then gave vent to a little of his frustration instead. The Shadows swept from him, swallowing the debris without a sound.
The prince's brow furrowed, perhaps picking up on the oddness of Seth's tone, but there was nothing there to actually criticize, so he just waved a hand. "How is the inventory going?"
"I am now out of ink, Your Highness, but I will go and collect more from Master Paki." Seth bowed and began to back from the room.
"Wait, Seth." the prince said, exasperated, and Seth obediently halted in place. "Why are you angry? Because I startled you and you broke the inkwell?"
"Angry, Your Highness?"
"Yes!" The prince's eyes flashed. "Stop playing the fool. You're only this formal when you're angry. Because of an accident?"
Seth sighed. "It's not that you startled me. I should have had my shields up."
"Then what?" the prince demanded.
"When you called me…I thought you were hurt," Seth muttered. "And…And I…" I was terrified.
A flicker of heart-wrenching surprise, followed by something very near gratitude, crossed the prince's face. He turned abruptly away, and Seth was glad of it, since it gave him time to process the completely illogical way his stomach clenched at the thought of the prince being hurt.
"I…I did not think," the prince said finally, still not looking at Seth.
"I know."
Now the prince did turn. "'I know?" he repeated incredulously.
Neither one would actually apologize, but the tension in the room had all but vanished. Seth bit back a smirk. "I thought formality meant that I was angry, Your Highness," he said.
The prince snorted. "How has no one caned you yet for being insufferable?"
Because it would be hypocritical. "Truthfully, my prince?" They skipped straight to the strangling. "That is a question for you to answer."
The prince shook his head. "When I know the answer, I will let you know." But he was smiling. Seth recognized the smirk. "In the meantime, Seth, clean up the ink and collect more."
"Cheat!"
Manu lunged up from the floor where he had been crouched and dove at his gambling partner. Then came a flurry of fists and feet. One of the flailing kicks made contact with the dice, sending them spinning across the floor. The landlord came out from behind his ragged curtain as the serving girls yelped in surprise and flinched away. Beer spilled, and other gamers came violently to their feet.
One man, his head covered in a hood, grinned at the sight.
Someone's cry went up several octaves as he was kicked in the groin. Another man lost some teeth as the landlord grimly waded in the mess, separating the brawlers with skillful swings of a heavy wooden stick.
The man in the hood grinned wider.
Then the accused cheater drew a knife, and Bakura had had enough. Bracing himself with a firm grip on the man's shoulder from behind, he thrust neatly twice. And as the would-be knife wielder crumpled to the ground with a scream lost in the brawl, Bakura stepped over him, caught Manu around the middle, and bore him out of the fray.
Manu stumbled and fell as the Thief King let him go. It was child's play to haul him up to sit against the wall, crouch down, and calmly lay a knife under his chin.
"You owe a great deal of money, Manu."
The guard's eyes widened in terror. "Please, please, I'll pay it back! Tell Runihura that I'll pay it all back. I just need a little more time!"
"You mistake me, Manu. I am not here on Runihura's behalf."
Manu's brow furrowed. "Then what do you want?" His eyes crossed as he attempted to look down at the knife.
Bakura grinned. If anything, it was more frightening than the calm. "To make all your problems go away."