GF: I am SO sorry! I skipped out on you entirely last week! I'm really,
REALLY sorry! I've got final projects due all over the place!
Skyla - Heheh... Cliffhanger...
Blueraven - I've had that problem many times. *nods*
Anime*Angel*Fox - I'm glad you like it. Morgan being Ankh's sister was Slink's idea. Of course I'll read your stories!
Jami krt - I'm happy if you're happy! And you're welcome.
Blueraven - Twice for one chapter? Happy! Yeah, CD is cute, isn't he? *huggles CD*
Lady Silver Dragon - Morgan being Ankh's sister isn't really important to the story - just a little background tidbit. And thank you! *huggles Get- Out-Of-Writer's-Block-Free-Card*
CD: Shuga'! Shuga'! *runs around in circles*
Donovan: -_-;; Yeah... Thanks! *strokes shiny swords*
Silver Dragon Golden Dragon (After this, you're SDGD, okay?) - *nod* Ankh has a long name... And Morgan's Egyptian name is long, too... And Amaranth's blind because of some run-in with a bunch of mean monsters sometime after her card was ripped - lightning balls n' stuff flying around everywhere, y'know? Oooh... New chapter? Yay!!
Donovan: Griff doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope
Chapter VIII
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Down in the courtyard, the remaining six were making conversation with Inhatenankh Paidr's Duel Monsters. Ryou was getting along rather well with the Shadow Ghoul, whose name happened to be Fluffy. Yugi was chatting with the green-haired man, who was actually a Thunder Dragon in human form.
Lucifer suddenly appeared. He grinned at Amaranth. "I don't suppose the Anti-DMG spray worked for Chaos?"
The white-haired girl smiled broadly. "It did, actually. Apparently, Elanor doesn't like essence of ragweed."
* * * * *
Alvis, Merlin, Mordred, and Kaiba sat at a small table, being served tea by Meresankh Lapis Fayrouz Bastet Paidr. Alvis was trembling visibly, and Merlin patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. This, however, caused the girl to explode faster.
She shot to her feet, knocking the table over and spilling tea everywhere. She pointed a finger accusingly at the sorceress, whose face was cold and emotionless. "I've had enough of this!" Alvis exclaimed, breathing heavily. "Why are we sitting here having tea?!?! What have you done with Donovan?" she demanded.
Morgan seemed to flow out of her seat, her calm grace a sharp contrast to Alvis's explosive rage. When she spoke, her voice was flat, expressionless. "Come with me. Just you and Mordred." With that, she swept out of the room, followed closely by her son and her great-great- granddaughter.
She led them down, down, down - back to the base of the tower. Then she led them down still further, through a trap door in the ground.
Morgan took three lit torches from a bracket in the wall, silently handing one to Mordred and one to Alvis. The girl kept her eyes down, fastened on the hem of the sorceress's robe.
Then another pair of feet appeared. Armored feet. Alvis's eyes traveled up armored legs to an armored torso. Her heart leaped - Donovan!
But it wasn't him. His skin was tanned, his hair yellow. "Mordred! Imagine seeing you here," he exclaimed.
The other knight smiled. "Percival."
"What are you doing down here?" Morgan snapped.
"Just making sure those torches haven't set anything on fire yet. Tell me again, why do they have to be lit all the time?"
"Because I say they do! Get out of here!"
Percival bowed, and then went in the direction they had come from.
* * * * *
At the end of the corridor was a door, huge and wooden, with heavy iron hinges and an ornate handle, also iron, fitted with a keyhole.
Morgan placed her torch in a bracket on the wall before bending down towards the keyhole. She formed a triangle with her thumbs and forefingers and blew through it, into the keyhole.
As it passed through the triangle, the sorceress's breath formed a key, misty silver, which drifted into the keyhole. It turned, and the door slowly creaked open.
Morgan retrieved her torch and motioned to her two descendants to follow her, then entered the dark chamber beyond.
* * * * *
Merlin and Seto Kaiba appeared in the courtyard and joined the rest of the group, which now included a few Egyptian spirits. The CEO found himself talking to Amaranth about his Blue Eyes White Dragons, Apollo, Ganymede, and Io.
* * * * *
A pile of armor lay in a corner, along with a curved sword crowned with a dragon's head.
Chains dangled from the far wall, holding prisoner the huddled for of Sir Donovan of Dragon's Cove. His tunic hung in tatters from his back, which was crisscrossed by angry red welts. He was thin - too thin, his bones easily visible through his pale skin.
The knight's blue eyes, clouded with pain, flickered open as Alvis gasped. His gaze rested on Mordred and the girl and a ghost of a smile flitted across his face before his eyes closed once more.
The other knight rounded on Morgan. "What have you done to him, Mother?" His eyes gleamed with a wild, angry light.
She smirked. "I've locked him in a dank, dark, dirty dungeon, starved him, whipped him, and threatened to feed him to Fluffy."
"Why?" Alvis asked softly.
Morgan's smile disappeared. She turned away from Mordred and Alvis to stare at the young man curled up against the wall. "It's my curse. I live off the pain and fear of others."
Alvis looked surprised. "And it's worth it? To be hated, despised by everyone? Just to go on living?"
"I don't know." It was Morgan's turn to be confused. "I feel I have an unfulfilled purpose." She seemed to be almost a different person, softer, more vulnerable. But then she was the cold, hard sorceress once more. "Do you want to rescue him, little girl?" she sneered.
Alvis stiffened. "What do you think?" she snarled back.
"You'll have to duel me for him."
* * * * *
They walked quickly across the courtyard, gathering the rescue party as well as Inhatenankh's monsters as they went. When they passed through the huge gateway of the fortress, the clouds of the Shadow Realm lifted and molded themselves into the semblance of a dueling field, complete with a station at either end.
Morgan leapt into one of the stations, a deck materializing in her hand as she did so. The platform slid upward, and Alvis stalked towards the other side of the field.
"Wait!" Ryou ran forward and caught up with the girl. She turned to meet him. He took her deck and shuffled it quickly. He handed it back to her. "There. Now you're all set. You can win. I know you can."
"Thank you," she whispered. Without another word, she climbed into the dueling station.
As the platform clicked into place, Morgan smiled, showing all her teeth, like a predator anticipating a kill. "Scared, little girl?"
Alvis scowled and slammed her deck into place. "You wish." She let a confident grin smooth over the frown. "Let's duel!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GF: Well, that wasn't my longest chapter, but it wasn't my shortest, either. I hope you liked it!
Donovan: Arrgh, a cliffhanger. And I'm still in the dungeon. Lovely.
CD: Weview!
Donovan: Can't you be serious for ONE minute?
CD: Not the mama!
GF: -_-;; Oh, dear...
Skyla - Heheh... Cliffhanger...
Blueraven - I've had that problem many times. *nods*
Anime*Angel*Fox - I'm glad you like it. Morgan being Ankh's sister was Slink's idea. Of course I'll read your stories!
Jami krt - I'm happy if you're happy! And you're welcome.
Blueraven - Twice for one chapter? Happy! Yeah, CD is cute, isn't he? *huggles CD*
Lady Silver Dragon - Morgan being Ankh's sister isn't really important to the story - just a little background tidbit. And thank you! *huggles Get- Out-Of-Writer's-Block-Free-Card*
CD: Shuga'! Shuga'! *runs around in circles*
Donovan: -_-;; Yeah... Thanks! *strokes shiny swords*
Silver Dragon Golden Dragon (After this, you're SDGD, okay?) - *nod* Ankh has a long name... And Morgan's Egyptian name is long, too... And Amaranth's blind because of some run-in with a bunch of mean monsters sometime after her card was ripped - lightning balls n' stuff flying around everywhere, y'know? Oooh... New chapter? Yay!!
Donovan: Griff doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dragon's Daughter, Demon's Hope
Chapter VIII
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Down in the courtyard, the remaining six were making conversation with Inhatenankh Paidr's Duel Monsters. Ryou was getting along rather well with the Shadow Ghoul, whose name happened to be Fluffy. Yugi was chatting with the green-haired man, who was actually a Thunder Dragon in human form.
Lucifer suddenly appeared. He grinned at Amaranth. "I don't suppose the Anti-DMG spray worked for Chaos?"
The white-haired girl smiled broadly. "It did, actually. Apparently, Elanor doesn't like essence of ragweed."
* * * * *
Alvis, Merlin, Mordred, and Kaiba sat at a small table, being served tea by Meresankh Lapis Fayrouz Bastet Paidr. Alvis was trembling visibly, and Merlin patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. This, however, caused the girl to explode faster.
She shot to her feet, knocking the table over and spilling tea everywhere. She pointed a finger accusingly at the sorceress, whose face was cold and emotionless. "I've had enough of this!" Alvis exclaimed, breathing heavily. "Why are we sitting here having tea?!?! What have you done with Donovan?" she demanded.
Morgan seemed to flow out of her seat, her calm grace a sharp contrast to Alvis's explosive rage. When she spoke, her voice was flat, expressionless. "Come with me. Just you and Mordred." With that, she swept out of the room, followed closely by her son and her great-great- granddaughter.
She led them down, down, down - back to the base of the tower. Then she led them down still further, through a trap door in the ground.
Morgan took three lit torches from a bracket in the wall, silently handing one to Mordred and one to Alvis. The girl kept her eyes down, fastened on the hem of the sorceress's robe.
Then another pair of feet appeared. Armored feet. Alvis's eyes traveled up armored legs to an armored torso. Her heart leaped - Donovan!
But it wasn't him. His skin was tanned, his hair yellow. "Mordred! Imagine seeing you here," he exclaimed.
The other knight smiled. "Percival."
"What are you doing down here?" Morgan snapped.
"Just making sure those torches haven't set anything on fire yet. Tell me again, why do they have to be lit all the time?"
"Because I say they do! Get out of here!"
Percival bowed, and then went in the direction they had come from.
* * * * *
At the end of the corridor was a door, huge and wooden, with heavy iron hinges and an ornate handle, also iron, fitted with a keyhole.
Morgan placed her torch in a bracket on the wall before bending down towards the keyhole. She formed a triangle with her thumbs and forefingers and blew through it, into the keyhole.
As it passed through the triangle, the sorceress's breath formed a key, misty silver, which drifted into the keyhole. It turned, and the door slowly creaked open.
Morgan retrieved her torch and motioned to her two descendants to follow her, then entered the dark chamber beyond.
* * * * *
Merlin and Seto Kaiba appeared in the courtyard and joined the rest of the group, which now included a few Egyptian spirits. The CEO found himself talking to Amaranth about his Blue Eyes White Dragons, Apollo, Ganymede, and Io.
* * * * *
A pile of armor lay in a corner, along with a curved sword crowned with a dragon's head.
Chains dangled from the far wall, holding prisoner the huddled for of Sir Donovan of Dragon's Cove. His tunic hung in tatters from his back, which was crisscrossed by angry red welts. He was thin - too thin, his bones easily visible through his pale skin.
The knight's blue eyes, clouded with pain, flickered open as Alvis gasped. His gaze rested on Mordred and the girl and a ghost of a smile flitted across his face before his eyes closed once more.
The other knight rounded on Morgan. "What have you done to him, Mother?" His eyes gleamed with a wild, angry light.
She smirked. "I've locked him in a dank, dark, dirty dungeon, starved him, whipped him, and threatened to feed him to Fluffy."
"Why?" Alvis asked softly.
Morgan's smile disappeared. She turned away from Mordred and Alvis to stare at the young man curled up against the wall. "It's my curse. I live off the pain and fear of others."
Alvis looked surprised. "And it's worth it? To be hated, despised by everyone? Just to go on living?"
"I don't know." It was Morgan's turn to be confused. "I feel I have an unfulfilled purpose." She seemed to be almost a different person, softer, more vulnerable. But then she was the cold, hard sorceress once more. "Do you want to rescue him, little girl?" she sneered.
Alvis stiffened. "What do you think?" she snarled back.
"You'll have to duel me for him."
* * * * *
They walked quickly across the courtyard, gathering the rescue party as well as Inhatenankh's monsters as they went. When they passed through the huge gateway of the fortress, the clouds of the Shadow Realm lifted and molded themselves into the semblance of a dueling field, complete with a station at either end.
Morgan leapt into one of the stations, a deck materializing in her hand as she did so. The platform slid upward, and Alvis stalked towards the other side of the field.
"Wait!" Ryou ran forward and caught up with the girl. She turned to meet him. He took her deck and shuffled it quickly. He handed it back to her. "There. Now you're all set. You can win. I know you can."
"Thank you," she whispered. Without another word, she climbed into the dueling station.
As the platform clicked into place, Morgan smiled, showing all her teeth, like a predator anticipating a kill. "Scared, little girl?"
Alvis scowled and slammed her deck into place. "You wish." She let a confident grin smooth over the frown. "Let's duel!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GF: Well, that wasn't my longest chapter, but it wasn't my shortest, either. I hope you liked it!
Donovan: Arrgh, a cliffhanger. And I'm still in the dungeon. Lovely.
CD: Weview!
Donovan: Can't you be serious for ONE minute?
CD: Not the mama!
GF: -_-;; Oh, dear...