M-Sama: All right, sorry but it will probably be a little while before my next update because everything I've written past this chapter is bull crap and must be re-written. Anyway, on with the show.

Chapter 7: Jono the Brave

While Téana was born into a clan of dancers and had a relatively clear path ahead of her, the boy Jono was lost. He appeared in Memphis one day while the Pharaoh was calling on the vizier there, "strengthening his ties with the people," as he called it. Seto called it "keeping those troublesome nomarchs on their toes," earning a stern word and an amused glance from the king. Seto, as High Priest, was coming to answer a complaint about a thieving spirit from the local temples and "attend to business." This usually involved at least half a dozen people being sent to the shadow realm.

 Téana was coming to keep the Pharaoh company. But the Pharaoh was holding court all day; so Téana went down to do some shopping in the marketplace.

Jono was not Egyptian; his golden hair was proof of that. His parents had been Roman traders, but they had died of a jungle virus when Jono was little, leaving him to fend for himself. He grew up a street-smart urchin. He was quite a bully at times, picking on those younger and weaker then him, but when pinch came to punch he usually stood up for the little guys. As a result, he had a very mixed reputation and none of the big boys really knew what to make of him.

Jono was not skinny, his body was too well muscled for that, although he was not bulky either. He had a lean hard form, a natural fighter, and he relied on this skill heavily while growing up. Usually he could hold his own with the best street fighters, and if not, well, he could run.

The Egyptian society was based on a barter system: one would exchange service or trade items for food and other goods. Jono was a good strong boy and could usually find some work to do for some pieces of copper or a meal, but since the nomarch of Memphis had started drafting more "troops" for a heavy mestaba construction job, Jono had been staying out of sight to keep from being drafted. He wanted to keep out of sight for another reason too; his golden hair, warm brown eyes, and lean young body made him a tempting target for predators of the worst sort. He had gotten caught once, and there was no way he was going to let it happen again. Since then he had been careful to darken his hair with khol to deaden the luster and render him less noticeable. The only way they were going to take him again was dead.

Téana was shopping for some cloth in the marketplace. She found some wonderful gauzy stuff that would make a beautiful dancing wrap, and because she could pay with gold the merchant treated her well, although he was no doubt going to try and swindle her (what businessman doesn't?). However, behind her bright eyes and enthusiastic smile, Tèana had a lot more cunning then one would presume. She walked away with the cloth at less then half the merchant's original asking price.  She pranced a little along the street, the purchases slung over her shoulder, feeling very good about herself…

She felt a hand clamped over her mouth. Her arms were seized in a strong hold from behind, and her nose was full of the ripe smell of unwashed body. She was too terrified even to scream.

"Bitch, not resist or I'll have to hurt ya, an' that would spoil your looks for the dealer."

Her captor pulled her rapidly through the alleys and zigzagged through the mud-brick city. What was going to happen to her? She had heard stories, oh please, please…

WHAM! Something hit her captor in the side. He went sprawling, loosing his grip on Téana. Before she knew what was happening a strange boy was pulling her to her feet…

"Hey kid! Hey, where do ya think your goin' with my- Oh it's you."

The big guy was on his feet again. The boy moved to shield Téana and glared.

The big guy smiled a very nasty smile. "So, if it isn't the golden boy. Oh you may have colored your hair dark, but that'll come out. The boss has been askin' for ya since ya ran away. Offered a nice big reward too. I bring you in with the little lady an' I'm set."

"Gonna havta get me first, ya big brute!"

 With a very nasty chuckle, the big guy charged.

The boy shoved Téana out of the way. Taking advantage of his lighter build and greater agility, he ducked the heavy swing, came up under the man's guard and delivered a devastating blow to the windpipe, knocking the breath out of the man. The boy stepped back a little ways and gave him a kick where it hurts and a couple good fists in the gut.

The man moaned and went down. The boy gave his motionless form one last kick in the ribs and went to Téana.

"Hey, you alright?"

Téana stared at the big guy's motionless form, and let the boy help her up.

"That monster…that monster!"

"Yeah, I know," said the boy. "Wish I could put 'em all outa business for good. 's evil, what they do."

Téana nodded. "Who…are you?"

"Name's Jono," said the boy, grinning. "I 'aint got not family name, so I can't give it to ya. And you are?"

"I'm Téana. I'm a dancer in the court of the Pharaoh." She felt a little of her pride return.

The big guy moaned. Jono gave him a kick in the soft spot on his thick neck and he went down again.

"Let's get outa here, I don' wanna be around when his buddies shows up. Oh, and'a, here's that bag you were carrying."

They moved through the alleys as quickly as they could.

After a while, Jono noticed he was the only one running. He glanced back and saw Tèana, staring around.

"What'cha think your doin'? We gotta get out of here." He yelled.

"I need to get back to the palace, which way is it?"

"Palace?"

"Duh, yeah," she said, heading off in a direction. "I told you I-"

Bam.

She turned a corner and ran smack into Seto Sutekh-Sokar, walking with some of his priests/groupies. She went sprawling in the dust again.

Seto was stunned for a moment, and then recovered, snarling. "Peasant! How dare you?!"

" 'Ay!" Jono stepped forward. "Why don'cha watch where you're going, ya big jerk!"

Now, Jono had learned (of necessity) that you had to respect superiors in the Egyptian community. Lords were next to gods, well, next to the king anyway and he was thought of as a god-on-earth, although Jono himself had never really believed in this, after all, what sort of god would let all that pain into the world, and what would a god be doing on earth anyway when he was supposed to be up in the heavens. Afterlife must be a pretty dull place. Thus, Jono's (weak) subordinate tendencies quickly dematerialized in the face of injustice. He knelt and helped Tèana up, brown eyes smoldering.

This is the wrong stance to take against Seto, who took (his) superiority very seriously. His expression darkened. "Oh? And who are you to address me like that, flea-bitten street mongrel."

"Stuck up pig! There's no excuse for hittin' a girl!"

Cold fire raged in Seto's eyes. "Bow down and apologize, you cur, or I will have your head right now!"

Some of the priests growled and moved forward, hands on their daggers.

Jono got into a fighting stance. "Wanna rumble? Fine wit' me!"

Téana had seen enough. "Seto! Jono! Stop it right now!"

Seto shot her an irritated glance, then blinked. "Téana! Heh, you're so dirty I didn't recognize you. What are you doing here?"

Téana scowled. "I might ask the same of you. Don't you have some poor unsuspecting lower priests to lock in the Shadow Realm forever and ever?"

"It's called defending my position, and I got done early," said Seto, crossing his arms. He scoffed. "Aren't you supposed to be mooning around the palace, waiting for the king to materialize?"

Jono blinked. "Palace? Téana, who is this dude?"

"I am Seto Sutekh-Sokar, High Priest of the Shadow Temples and master of the duel magics."

"Never heard 'a ya."

Seto grit his teeth.

"Hey!" yelled Téana, "I'm sick of watching this! Seto, we have to get back to the castle, there's something I really want to tell the king about!"

Seto growled, but when a lady asked for help, it is uncouth to refuse. "Alright then, let's go." He started off, only to have her turn to Jono and say, "You should come too. I'm sure Pharaoh will give you a reward for saving me."

Jono blinked. "You kiddin? I thought you were making that whole thing about the king up to sound important. You REALLY know the pharaoh?"

Téana was so shocked she hit him. "You jerk! Of course I know him, I wouldn't make up something like that; I'm not a liar!"

Jono rubbed his cheek. "Okay, okay, I believe ya!"

Seto smirked. "Save us all from the wrath of a woman…"

Téana whirled on him, shooting him a death glare.

Seto shut up immediately.

"Well?! Let's go! The king's waiting!"

The king was indeed worrying about Téana. When she came into the throne room safe and sound, his relief was noticeable, and he gave her orders not to leave the palace again without his permission. Téana scowled at him too, but knew she was not allowed to talk back to him when he was holding court. She would have to wait to tell him what she thought about his trying to run her life.

She got her chance sooner then she thought, for the pharaoh closed his affairs for the day and called them all to a sitting room, were he sat them dawn and asked them what happened.

He listened to Téana's account of her afternoon adventure. He was horrified. He apologized to her for not being there, and said she would not be going out alone from now on. Téana clenched her fist and insisted she had no problem with that, but he had another thing coming if he thought she was going to let him run her life. Pharaoh glared at her and said, with a razor edge to his resonating voice, he was going to run her life if she continued to gamble with it, she was his responsibility and Ammit take him if he was going to let anything happen to her!

Tèana looked at her hands, folded in her lap. "You're right…I'm sorry…"

The king then called Jono forward. Jono couldn't believe he was really sitting there with the King of Egypt, he could not believe someone had risen their voice to said King of Egypt, the most powerful man in the world, although this became more believable when he remembered the girl was Téana. She was a fiery one.

Seto got up. He stated he had had things to do so if they didn't mind…The Pharaoh nodded and Seto left. Then the king began to quiz Jono about his life.

Jono found himself telling everything. How his parents had died when he was little, leaving him all alone in a strange land, how he had fought, and stole, and worked, and puzzled his way to live as long as he had, running from drafters and those dirty dealers…

The Pharaoh was shocked. "But such things have been illegal for years!"

"Some people don' care, your Majesty. Long as there's been laws, there has been people breakin' the laws…"

Jono remembered hearing that phrase somewhere, and it sounded learned and important, so he used it.

"I see," said the king, his eyes darkening. He rubbed his golden headband, and the Eye of the Thousand Years, the symbol of the duelist magic that was embossed there. "Please continue."

By the time Jono was finished talking, the Pharaoh was quietly outraged. "Jono, how would you go about exterminating these filthy operations, if you could?"

"Well, I don' really know, your Majesty. These people been running from the troops for years. Ra's name, lotsa soldiers go there when they get off duty! I saw plenty during the time I was there."

The Pharaoh stood up. His soul-searing eyes were on fire. "Thank you Jono. You have opened my eyes to something that should have been dealt with long ago. You may rest assured that this will be taken care of. Téana! Find a room for Jono please, and alert the servants." He clapped his hands. A scribe materialized out of nowhere. "Alert the nomarch. I will speak with him over dinner tonight. It is of utmost urgency, I have much to discuss."

Téana took Jono to one of the spare rooms. A couple servants appeared and prepared a bath, washed the khol out of his hair and were startled to discover it's golden hue. Clean clothes were laid out for him.

Jono was fourteen.

Jono stayed in the palace. His job became to sort out the evils in a nome and report them to the pharaoh, and he left to wander the streets and scout out the troubles. The king bullied Seto into teaching Jono how to use the duelist magic's, so he could protect himself against basically anything. He became great friends with Téana, and even with the king. He was surprised, but underneath that crown of hair, those scorching eyes and that weird deep voice, the Pharaoh was actually a brave, clever guy with a great heart.

Three best friends, happy with their friendship. Together they had many adventures and got into lots of trouble, but they always came through for each other. 

For those of you who care, khol is the name of a powdered black pigment, used as make up and dye in ancient Egypt.