"Goodnight then, Gozaburo, my lords, and my thanes!" Sakura said at party's end.
"I take it you won't be able ta entertain us any longa," Joey said
Seto stepped behind Sakura and held her possessively. "Your rooms are upstairs," he said coldly.
Gozaburo chuckled. "You needn't worry about a thing. It would hardly do to repay hospitality with unfriendly betrayal."
Sakura gave Gozaburo a false smile. "Indeed."
Confused by the tone of her voice, the king looked at his hostess curiously, but she had already taken the irony out of her smile. She gestured to a servant. "The attendants will see to you."
"Thank you," Noah said as the servitors led them up the stairs.
"Good night!" Seto called.
"Sleep well, Gozaburo!" Sakura could not resist adding.
The new thane of Cawdor and his wife were last to leave the dining hall. Seto drew his knife and hefted it. "Be patient," he murmured as he put it away.
He did not have to wait long. Excited anticipation closed Seto's eyes until Sakura woke him an hour later. "Up! It's now or never!"
He jerked awake. Sakura guided him out the door. "Go! Walk around! Stay awake!" she urged. "When the bell rings, go to his room!" she dashed away before he could ask any questions.
Words echoed in the corridor, causing Seto to jerk and snap his head to see the source of the voice. "How is the night, Yuugi?" he heard. Yami Yuugi and his son, Seto thought.
"It's late," Yuugi said.
Seto watched them come into view. The elder Yuugi stopped by a window and leaned on the sill. "Take my sword," Yami Yuugi said wearily. "The night is dark. I want to sleep but my dreams curse me."
Best to leave them alone, Seto thought. He stepped back but landed on unsure foot. To regain his balance, he grasped at his room's door, causing a soft boom.
Yami Yuugi reclaimed his sword from Yuugi. "Who's there?" he demanded.
Seto abandoned hopes of remaining hidden. "A friend," he said as he stepped into Yuugi's torchlight.
"What? Still not asleep, Kaiba?" Yami Yuugi asked. "Gozaburo is sleeping. He was unusually gracious today." He produced a diamond and handed it to Seto. "He wanted me to give this to Lady Sakura, in the name of most kind hostess."
"We don't deserve this, Seto said. "The entertainment and hospitality we offered wasn't our best."
Yami Yuugi smiled. "That's all right. Then, after glancing at his son, he drew near Seto and whispered: "I dreamed last night of the Weïrd sisters. To you they have shown some truth."
Seto studied the dark sky. "I had forgotten about them," he said. Then he returned his gaze to Yami. "But later, when we have time, we should discuss this further."
"If you wish, Yami agreed.
"If it does happen as they predicted, Yuugi, and you remain on my side," Seto said, "I will reward you."
"I'll keep that in mind and will be willing to listen when we talk," Yami Yuugi said.
"Peace until then," Seto said.
Yami nodded. "And the same to you." He tapped Yuugi's shoulder. "Come on, let's go to sleep."
Seto watched them leave and roamed his castle in Gozaburo's general direction.
Lady Kaiba approached the guards with the almost empty flask. "Is either one of you fools still awake?" she whispered, not really looking for an answer. She lifted the eyelid of one and found him asleep. Sakura visited the other and did the same. This time, however, the man came to life. He grabbed her and, laughing lecherously, pushed her onto Gozaburo's bed.
She grabbed the dagger out of his belt and brought the butt of the hilt onto the back of his head. He stopped moving and she pushed him off.
Sakura stood and approached Gozaburo with drawn dagger.
Seto closed his eyes and rubbed his temple in an attempt to remove the hallucination from before his eyes but failed. Is this a dagger I see? He thought as he reached for it. It led out of his reach – to Gozaburo's – and he followed it. No, it's just a figment of my imagination. But I call on you now!
He drew his dagger and held it close to his face, roused by the touch of cold steel on flesh. He spoke to the dagger: "You led the way, and appeared before I summoned you. Either my eyes lied, or they're most trustworthy of my senses."
The thane looked up. The dagger, now covered with blood, still hung before him. My eyes lied. Dreams run in the night. Witches sacrifice to Hecate, and the animated wolf howls his watch.
He spoke to himself, narrating his movements. "With steady pace, with ravishing strides, he moves with purpose. Be quiet, my steps – this instant is heightened by silence."
Suddenly, Seto stopped and shook his head. "While I talk, he lives," he chastised himself. "Words take away from the moment.
He continued to slink the hallways with his dagger before him. Seto heard a soft bell and smile. "I come, bell!" he laughed. "Hear it not, Gozaburo, for it is a knell that summons you to heaven or to hell!"
*****
Across the heath, two horsemen dressed in dark raced for Inverness.