Tulip-Jin: Dun dun dun DAAAAAAAAAAH! The next chapter of this fic is here! YYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Yami Tulip-Jin: I know I'll regret asking this, but why the heck are you so happy right now, Aibou?
TJ: Lots of soda, fish for lunch, REALLY perky music on the computer...all that and you actually need to ASK?!?!!
Yami TJ: (sweatdrop)
TJ: (Dances in front of computer to the music)
Chibi Red Eyes Black Dragon & Yami TJ: (double sweatdrop)
Disclaimer: Does anybody know the Klingon word for 'Blindingly Obvious'?
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Father planned to attack at dawn. It was a good strategy - the sun would be at our backs, at its lowest, and it would blind the enemy. However, just before dawn they attacked us.
It had been a tiny expeditionary force, sent to gauge our strength, and three of them escaped. Father decided to forget the plan and attack right then. It was his standard method of battle - foot soldiers and cavalry first, priests right behind them, archers to provide cover fire, and then the lowly chariot archers were left as a reserve.
Hiskotonamekt, who doubled as the commanding general with authority just below Father's, gave us special orders. We were on rescue.
"You'd better be careful with these two, my Prince," he said as he indicated Jono and Hotra. "I'd like to get a few more years out of them."
Then he had to go direct the rest of the army. It certainly was a large army, the biggest Egypt had put into the field for some time. Everyone was waiting anxiously before the word was finally given.
While the two great armies clashed on the field, my chariots circled the city swiftly and entered from behind. We shot those that stood against us full of arrows and those that we missed…well, the chariots took care of them for the most part.
All the women were being held in a low brick building, surrounded by guards. The foot soldiers that went in each chariot, with some help from the archers, took them out fairly quickly and with minimal losses. Soon, women were being helped into chariots or into the few large wagons we were borrowing from the city. Not many of them were ours, and there were only three sisters that were still alive.
But Anza was there, and she slapped Hotra and Jono for trying to hug her before she recognized them. Then she slapped them again. Don't ask me why - I think it was some female thing.
While we went back the way we had come, our mission having been very successful if I do say so myself, we soon saw the rest of the battle was going very badly.
Our side was fighting a desperate and losing fight, and so I ordered my forces in from both sides. The classic pincer movement I had employed in my games before worked better then ever, and our side began pushing forward again.
At some point I found myself on foot, and out of arrows. I did have a short sword on me, but it was pure luck that I didn't gut myself with it when I tried to use it. Then it got stuck in the body of the soldier I was fighting and wouldn't come out no matter how hard I pulled.
So I ducked my head and ran around, trying not to be such a visible target. Of course, that wasn't very possible. Three minor level enemy mages confronted me.
"Look, it's the Pharaoh's youngest whelp! Master Bekareh will give us great rewards for killing him!" One said.
They pointed their staffs at me and I figured I was about to die. They each shot a ball of flame at me, which combined into one huge whirling inferno on its way over. I threw my hands up to shield myself in a instinctive but useless gesture.
After a moment I noticed I was still alive. I found myself standing inside a whirlwind of fire. The mage's spells drove the flames towards me but something else kept them back. It took a minute for me to track, but afterwards it seemed obvious.
It was the Millennium Puzzle!
It's magic was practically laughing as It warded the flames off. The mages could be heard yelling, trying to figure out what the heck was going on. They increased the power. Still the Puzzle protected me.
This was a game to It - a game called Play with the Nice Fire. I sensed It could do much more then simply block the flames, if I could get It to work.
The mage's yells increased as I drew the whirlwind in closer, making it grow taller and spin faster. It was a firestorm now, and the spectacle drew the attention of still more enemy mages. Their powerful attack spells were going to be their undoing.
To the outsider's eye, the flames suddenly sank into a low, tight circle, before exploding outwards with dangerous force. Fire engulfed everyone nearby, all those mages destroyed before they could blink an eye. It was really something to see.
It didn't even occur to me that I wasn't supposed to be enjoying that part.
.
.
Picking my way past corpse after corpse after corpse, I found that a command tent had been set up and the wounded were getting treated as best as they could be around it, all in the middle of the field.
The fighting had entered Ba-ah-al itself now. As I tried to hurry my way over, a misstep sent me sprawling into a tiny dip. Grumbling and pushing myself up, I discovered myself face to face with the absolute last sight I wanted to see.
Father.
Or at least his body.
There were a dozen dead men around him, and the three spears that went straight through him were evidence enough of how he had been killed. His dead fingers still had a death grip on his broken sword, and he hadn't been dead for very long.
I know, I know, a future ruler of Egypt is supposed to be bold in the face of Anubis himself, but still I retched. It was such a waste, such a stupid and pointless waste!
Once I recovered, I did the proper thing, laying Father out as befitted a fallen warrior. His eyes were closed, which was good because I didn't think I could handle being the one to close them. Once I had finished, I took Father's war crown.
It was bloody. I was bloody too. I certainly scared Hiskotonamekt when I stumbled into the tent that way.
"My Prince! Are you alright? What -" He stopped and went pale when he saw what I was holding.
"No…our Lord Pharaoh! Such a cursed day this be," he said mournfully as he took the crown from me.
In front of him, on a table, was a map of the area, covered with hastily scribbled marks. Hiskotonamekt said something, and I looked at him blankly until he repeated it.
"Prince Yamakali, you must take command for now. None of your brothers that we've found have survived! King Tokay was betrayed by his Grand Vizier and slain, and the Vizier's henchmen have been seeking out all royal family members!"
I chuckled grimly. "I know, I was accosted by about ten of them."
"What happened?" He asked.
"Let's just say they got a taste of their own magic," I said.
I hadn't meant to, but the fold of my robes that concealed the Millennium Puzzle slipped away to reveal the Item in all It's splendor. Hiskotonamekt was no fool, and he was well informed on what was supposed to be in the vaults and what wasn't.
"Dare I ask where you got that, my Prince?" He was a bit sarcastic. I frowned and he stepped back.
"I take it you don't approve?" I asked. It was meant as a rhetorical question.
He sighed. "No, but I'll bet the palace it's too late for my say to have any effect. This might even turn out useful - the Vizier wears something just like that, but round. I just got a report on him. He's rather noticeable -"
"White hair and a rather ruthless attitude?"
"Exactly," he said. "Our priests can barely hold him off as it is - seems he has magic of his own. I'm open to suggestions, milord."
I nodded. "I'll take care of him. Don't let anyone know about Father - he's, uh, over in that little dip right now," I said with a head thrust in the proper direction.
"It would demoralize the others if they found out."
"Good luck," Hiskotonamekt said as I left and headed to where the battle was at it's fiercest.
