Chapter Twenty: Murder

Bakura woke up underneath a ragged blanket in a large tent full of other men. During the fight, he had been caught by the tip of a Syrian spear and had been cut deeply. A few of his ribs had been broken. He was lucky to be alive.

Shoving the instant pain out of his mind, he stood and wobbled towards the nearest guard.

"Can you tell me where I can find the Pharaoh?" he asked. The guard stared at him weirdly before answering.

"The High Priest took him back to the palace last night," he replied. "The Pharaoh fell unconscious with minor injuries after his stunning attack in the middle of the night."

Bakura was the one to stare now. Set had taken Yami back to the palace? He dashed from the tent, his body groaning in protest. Finding his mount tethered nearby, Bakura undid the reins and scrambled onto the animal's back. Ignoring the angry shouts from around him, he nudged the horse into a gallop and headed straight for the city.

---

Yami's head throbbed with pain as he woke up. He tried to move his arm, but couldn't find the energy. The attack last night, the one he had thought would take his life, had swallowed all his strength, leaving him perfectly helpless.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake, Atemu. I personally thought you wouldn't make it. At least I was right on one of my predictions," came Set's voice, somewhere in the room. Yami's body froze. To Set, he looked confused, when he was absolutely terrified.

"I'm afraid your 'love', Bakura, was killed in the battle last night. I'm so sorry."

Yami felt his hopes fall. With Bakura dead, Set could do what ever he wished with Yami. His vision blurred as his eyes filled with tears.

"Don't tell me you're crying over that pathetic excuse of a thief. He was worth nothing!" Set spat. Yami recoiled in fear. "But since he's dead and everyone else is still at the battlefield, there won't be any interruptions. I can do what I want."

The bed beside Yami sagged as Set placed his body next to Yami's. Leaning towards the small king, Set roughly grabbed Yami's hair and crushed their lips together with bruising force.

Yami struggled, but Set's hands knotted in Yami's hair, preventing him from doing much. The younger continued to cry, his cheeks soaked with tears.

Leaving one hand thoroughly entangled in Yami's tricolored locks; his other hand made their way down Yami's body. The small king squirmed in discomfort as Set's hands drifted beneath his shirt.

Set left his spot on the bed beside Yami and rolled on top of the small Pharaoh. Set's free hand traveled up and grazed over one of Yami's nipples. Yami moaned unvoluntarily, allowing Set to push his tongue into Yami's mouth.

As Set's tongue continued to ravish Yami's mouth, Set's other hand untangled itself from the mass of hair and joined the other in its travelled downwards. The High Priest's long fingers slipped beneath the hem of Yami's kilt and danced over the Pharaoh's smooth thighs.

---

Bakura leapt from the horse as he reached the outer courtyard where they had departed from the other day. He raced to the ivy outside of Yami's room. Continuing to ignore the pain stabbing through his body, he scurried up the hanging vines.

He climbed to Yami's balcony and threw back the silk hangings. The room was empty. Fear filled Bakura as he realized Set must have taken Yami to his own rooms.

'Yami, what has Set done with you?' he cried mentally. Spying an ornamented dagger on Yami's chest of drawers, he grabbed it and shoved it behind his belt, out of sight. That done, he raced off down the hall.

He stopped in a deserted corridor and searched his mind for information on the palace. His mind flew back to the blueprints he had looked over in Khanut's store. Mentally, he retraced the path to the high Priest's apartments and burned them into his mind. With the pathway to the High Priest's rooms imprinted in his head, Bakura took off again.

The few servants that were in the halls threw themselves out of Bakura's way. The thief dashed down various halls and passages, desperately searching for the way into Set's rooms. The conjuror had hidden his rooms carefully, in case something along the lines of this situation ever happened.

He entered the long, narrow servant's corridor to Set's room. As he ran along in the darkness, he could hear cries of anguish echoing off the stone walls. He threw himself at the door with all his speed, causing the door to spring open. He flew into the room and froze before the scene in front of him.

Yami was pinned beneath Set, his eyes red from crying. Set had gone back to his old tactics and had Yami's arms trapped in his own shirt again. The priest's hands were travelling over the Pharaoh's helpless body; one sliding across Yami's exposed chest, the other moving mercilessly under his thin, silk kilt.

Bakura's mind filled with rage as a Set leaned over and forced a kiss from Yami's puffy lips. The Pharaoh wiggled under Set's savage administrations, trying pointlessly to pry the taller one off of him.

"Bakura!" Yami cried desperately after Set had taken his lips away, his eyes reaching out for Bakura. Yami's mind was spinning from the lack of oxygen caused by Set's weight on top of him. Set had said Bakura was dead, having being killed during the fight. But Bakura was standing right in front of them. Had Set lied to throw Yami's guard off, or was this Bakura an illusion; a ghost?

Bakura's mind focussed on its goal: kill Set. Leaping forward, he tackled the priest off of the bed and off of Yami. Set landed hard on the stone floor with Bakura hovering above him.

Careful not to reveal Yami's dagger concealed in his belt, he attacked Set with his fists. Set was obviously unarmed as he took advantage of Yami's injuries, as he thought Bakura was also.

Yami watched the fight from the bed, his fear rooting him in place on top of the blanket. Set managed to get Bakura to the floor, with a strong hold on his neck.

"What makes you think you can beat me this time, thief? I've beaten you once, and I'm very capable of doing it again," Set sneered as Bakura's face shifted to a shade of blue. The pale haired thief grimaced and wiggled out of Set's grasp. Flipping them both over, it was Bakura's turn to make a snide remark.

"I have a feeling fate is with me this time, priest," Bakura sneered back. Set growled and threw Bakura off of him, standing up in the process.

The fight continued, both participants growing weary. Bakura was tiring faster, however, as his movements slowed quicker than Set's. But just as Yami thought Set would kill Bakura, he expelled a great spurge of energy and spun out and behind the priest. Set stumbled as Bakura flashed passed him. A ray of light reflected off of a silver blade as Bakura whipped it from its sheath in his belt and plunged it into the brunette's back.

The High Priest's eyes widened as a spurt of blood shot from his back. He gasped and fell forward, a look of pure surprise in his last glare. As he hit the ground, his ice blue eyes glazed over and showed no further signs of life.

He was dead, and it had been Yami's dagger that had skewered his evil heart.

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Cao: Okay, you can't tell me that wasn't predictable. Of course Bakura was going to win, for love and everything.

Dark: Yes, very predictable. That isn't a good thing for a writer, you know.

Cao: Shut up. The last chapter is just an epilogue type of thing, but it includes details about the sequel. Hope you leave a pretty little review for me!

P.S.- Go Flames Go!!!!!!!!!!