Welcome to Camelot?
Disclaimer: Don't own.
NOTE: Zekel Sha is the fictitious Spirit of the Eye made up for use in several of my previous YGO fics -- all of them, including this fic, date from when I had only seen the second season or so of the show, and had no knowledge of the actual Spirit of the Eye. Not that this isn't AU anyway, but whatever.
NOTE 2: The boys are squires to the knights as follows, in case it becomes confusing: Yugi with Sir Percival of Wales; Ryou with Sir Galahad the Pure (Launcelot's son); Jounouchi with Sir Gawain of Orkney (Arthur's nephew); Otogi & Sir Launcelot of the Lake; Kaiba & Sir Donovan of Dragon's Cove (belongs to GriffinFire); Malik & Sir Mordred Pendragon (Arthur's bastard son/nephew).
Chapter 3: Horses, Swords, and Very Angry Spirits
Ryou craned his neck, trying to take in as much of the surrounding countryside as possible. He tried to adjust himself to the rather strange sensation of riding on a horse. The horse was only trotting – but even so, he was jouncing up and down, the horse's harness jingling, a slim sword dangling on one hip.
He could sense the presence of the first spirit, sluggish and sleepy, then suddenly very much awake.
Where have you taken us now? Bakura demanded. Still out of sorts, though not quite as profane as usual.
Go away, Zekel Sha's voice mumbled irritably. You woke me up. It can't be much past dawn. A mental yawn interrupted the sentence. It's only...wait.
Our mortal vessel is wearing a sword, the tomb robber noted in amusement. A sword. You're supposed to be the peaceful type.
Oh, be quiet. With an argument going on inside his head, he might very well fall off his horse.
He told you to shut up, tomb robber. Suddenly he develops a...backbone... The other spirit, the spirit of the Sennen Eye, yawned again. So, he continued, You will now tell us where in all the fires of perdition we are.
The word's hell, Zekel Sha, said Bakura. Not perdition.
It means the same thing, argued Zekel Sha. And I don't swear, anyway.
You did once, cut in Ryou, keeping an eye on the approaching bridge. When that Man-Eater Bug nearly swallowed you? It was after -
I remember. Don't remind me. Zekel Sha, like Bakura, was not quite in the best of moods in the morning. Most of the time he kept to himself, anyway.
...so first of all, you can tell us where we are. As I said in the beginning The tomb robber still sounded tired, belligerence aside. What is this? A camp? A tournament?
Obviously not, commented Zekel Sha. First of all, note the armor. And the sword. Not to mention the horse. And he's not even -
Bakura grinned mentally. He's not even wearing that sissy white sweater I keep telling him to get rid of!
That's not what I was going to say.
Oh, you shut up, retorted Bakura.
Vir molestus stultissimusque es, said Zekel Sha primly. He didn't usually resort to insulting Bakura in his native tongue -- Ryou still hadn't figured out what language it was -- but Bakura resented it, more out of habit that anything else, even though he didn't know whether Zekel Sha was reciting poetry or cursing at him.
That's it! snapped Bakura. Stop the damn horse!
Both spirits suddenly separated -- he could see the trees and the road through their bodies, so he wouldn't be able to stop them, like always. They immediately dove at each other and started a fistfight. Ryou craned his neck around to keep an eye on them, while tugging desperately on the reins. The horse kept going.
"Excuse me...sir?" He had to shout – Sir Galahad was far ahead. "Could we stop for a moment?"
The knight's silver armor flashed as he turned around. "What is it, boy?" His eyes suddenly landed on the two in the distance and widened in shock. "Who -- ? Bandits? Peasants?"
Ryou sighed in relief as Galahad reined in his horse. His own slowed down and lowered its head to nibble the grass. "I...can explain. They're...uh..." He started chewing on his lower lip as he saw Bakura grab a fistful of Zekel Sha's hair and Zekel Sha land a punch on the left side of Bakura's face.
Galahad raised an eyebrow. "First of all, where did they come from?"
Ryou gulped. "They live -- if you can call it that -- in these." He drew Ring and the Eye from where they were tucked inside his shirt and held them out.
For some strange reason, Galahad flinched and shielded his eyes, as if they radiated some bright light. "Such darkness!"
Ryou stared at him, uncertain of how to respond to such a melodramatic reaction. "Yeah, I guess you could call them that..."
Galahad lowered the visor of his helmet and looked warily at the two Items in Ryou's hands. "When I first saw you, I realized how pure your soul was." A frown crossed his pale face. "I never thought you were the bearer of such evil." The frown deepened. "And they just appeared?"
"Yes. They can do that. Not actual physical bodies, though." Suddenly Ryou was afraid that Galahad would either abandon him or turn him in to some old priest for carrying around golden objects that carried dark magic.
The young knight shook his head, then chuckled. Ryou crossed his fingers that the chuckle wouldn't turn into one of Bakura's evil laughs. It didn't. Instead, he said wryly, "I suppose there's more to it than that." He looked back at the two spirits, who by now were stirring up a good-sized cloud of dust from the road. "I'm sure one such as you can keep them under control, or you could not have survived this long."
Ryou nodded in relief, then somehow convinced his horse to trot back towards the spirits. Galahad followed him. They both dismounted. Galahad stood there with a slightly deadpan expression on his face while Ryou stepped forward.
"Um...Bakura? Zekel?"
At least that brought a response out of the latter. "The name's Zekel Sha, dammit!" he muttered, then yelped as Bakura bit his forearm.
Ryou sighed, and resigned himself to negotiating their return into their respective items.
