Reviews:
yamiyugifanadic: Will there be angst? This is me you're talking about...
tamachan444: *smirk* You think a threat like that is gonna help your cause? My dear, if anything, I might make it even more painful for that...
Yami Yami Yugi: There was no Yami because Yami didn't have anything to do in that chapter. he was just... doing Yami things... probably involving naughty thoughts of Yugi ^_^
Thanks also to: ObiWanGirl, Sansi, Chaotic Bystander, Ril, Kitty Neko, trekkie-54, Pharaoh's Dark Hikari, Morgaine: Lady of the Lake, CrazyAboutYugi, Smarty1, Shade25, One Winged Tenshi, DarkWolf193, DAU, Yugi-obsessed, Sabby-chan Yaoi Fan, Taddybear, blueraydragon, Tahirah, Sabbie The Unloved Goddess, inuyasha-1234, Anna EC, Abi 2 and Latias!
Oh, and because I forget so often... Thank you Koori-chan and Becky for beta duties! *snugs*
*~*~*~*~*~*
A deathly silence filled the throne room as Set made his way to his seat of power. Guards stared fixedly at the wall opposite them, stood to attention and not daring to bat an eyelid as Set passed, while advisors knelt on the ground, staring only at Set's feet as he passed. Of late, the High Priest Lord of the Two Lands had developed an increasingly short temper, and the smallest irritation was deemed just cause to hand out the death sentence. You could almost feel the rage flowing from him as he walked, wilting everything he passed and poisoning the earth under his feet.
Glaring death upon all around him, Set continued his long walk across the length of the throne room, to the pedestal on which the Pharaoh had formerly sat. Climbing stair by stair, growling with each footstep, Set slammed angrily down into his throne, adjusting to a comfortable but intimidating position as he surveyed the trembling masses before him.
Things hadn't been going too well lately. Something was wrong in the heavens, quite badly. Almost every effort to offer praise to the Gods had gone wrong – he'd forgotten the prayers, or the wrong statues were in the room, or anything like that. It was almost as if the Gods had turned their backs on him entirely. Of course, he knew they hadn't – to ignore him would be to ignore Egypt, the very nation that led the world to know of the almighty Gods. Besides, there was proof all around them that the Gods still acknowledged them – just a few days ago, the inundation [1] had begun, which meant that at least Osiris was still present. However, one God did not account for the rest, and at any rate worship offered to Osiris was no more successful than the others were. That, and his spies had lost the Pharaoh a long time ago, and hadn't found him again. It wasn't like he was inconspicuous… so something else must have been interfering.
Yes. Something was definitely wrong.
With a growl, Set spoke up. "Send them in."
Today was traditionally the day the Pharaoh would listen to the pleas of the people and offer help where he felt it appropriate. Set had originally planned to scrap this, but – following much fretful pleading and reasoning from every last advisor in the palace – he had eventually been dissuaded. On days like today, when his mood was far from positive, the advisors couldn't help but wonder if maybe they'd have been better off just letting it slip.
The first peasant entered timidly, an old man with a bent back and knocking knees, wheezing softly with the effort of shuffling the extraordinary length of the room on the staff he leaned against. "My Lord," he began.
"Don't raise your eyes to me!" Set bellowed as he spied the man beginning to look up. "You are not my equal, nor will you ever be. Do not try to match my gaze."
The old man bowed as deeply as his aching back would permit him in apology, and softly continued. "My name is Azakhten Neteri, and I have come to plead on behalf of my son."
"And why couldn't he come himself?"
"Well, my Lord, whilst removing the last of the crops from the banks of the Nile yesterday, he was attacked by a crocodile. He's too weak to even stand up at the moment, and–"
"Forget it," Set snapped. "He shouldn't have been stupid enough to get caught in the first place." Darting a savage glare at the old man, he bellowed out, "Next!"
"But, my Lord–"
Set's glare turned from a dart into a full onslaught. "How dare you speak out of turn!" he roared. "I heard your pitiful request and rejected it. You do not have the authority to question me!" Set looked up and across the room. "Guards!"
Cursing under their breath, Jou and Hiroto snapped to attention. "Yes, oh mighty Lord?"
"Throw this pathetic gnat into the cells," Set spat. "Maybe a week there will teach him and his family some respect for the man pressured with running the kingdom they live so freely in."
The two strode forward without so much as a word, roughly taking the man by each arm and leading him out of the room.
"You two!"
Both froze mid-step, and Jou turned and looked over his shoulder at the High Priest, who sounded immensely displeased. "…Yes, oh mighty Lord?"
"I said throw him, not carry him. He's a prisoner, not a guest."
The two chief guards gave each other an uneasy glance, before dutifully complying. Both darting forward suddenly, they caused the old man to overbalance, leaving him to be roughly dragged out of the room, struggling as the floor scraped at his unprotected skin.
Once out of the room, the two pulled the man to his feet. "Sorry about that," Hiroto whispered as he allowed the man to weakly dust himself off. "It was that or all three of us would be the main attraction at the next execution."
The old man nodded. "Very well," he wheezed, wincing as his hand brushed a cut. "I shan't resist you… but could you please see that my grandson finds out?" he asked hopefully. "He's stood at the palace gates, his name is Azizi. I feared this might happen, so I had him wait there…"
Jou looked down uncertainly. "We'll see what we can do for you…" he murmured. If they weren't careful, the boy could be thrown in the cells too. "Now come on, let's get you down there before he sends someone out to check on us…"
*~*~*~*~*~*
The old man safely locked away, Jou and Hiroto stood in a different area of the cells, both slouched against the wall and looking not best pleased. "Damn bastard," Jou murmured, his arms folded loosely across his chest. "Thinks he's so high and mighty now that the Pharaoh isn't around. What I'd give to see that smirk wiped off his face…"
Hiroto raised an eyebrow. "The joint Chief of the Royal Guard speaking out against the Lord Protector?" He shook his head slowly. "You should be careful, you know. If the wrong person hears…" Hiroto drew his thumb across the base of his neck, indicated Jou's fate.
"Ah, shove it," the blonde retorted. "I know you hate that bastard as much as I do. And besides, none of our boys would rat us out."
"I might though," a third voice piped up.
Hiroto and Jou both turned to glare at whoever had spoken. In a cell a few doors down, a face was pressed up against the bars across the small gap in the door. "I mean, now that I've heard you guys say it, it's my word against yours – and of course you'd deny it. I'm sure the High Priest would listen to that argument. Seems to be a bit of a live one, you know?"
As the two guards strode up to the door, the boy stepped back from the bars, flicking his long black bangs out of his eyes and grinning confidently. Jou rapped his knuckles against the wood, before leaning against the door with a self-assured air of his own. "We could have you put to death, you know."
"Don't think so. I'm not even a criminal any more."
Both guards glanced at each other in surprise. "What?"
"Check the records. I got flung in here for saying the very things you just did. Difference being Set wasn't so foul-tempered back then. I should've been let out yesterday, but I guess you can't depend on human efficiency. Either way, as far as those records go I'm not here, so if you kill me you'll be murdering a civilian!"
Jou and Hiroto glanced uneasily at each other, before Hiroto went off to check the records. Jou leaned up to the door again and whispered, "If what you say is true, and we let you out, can you do us a favour?"
"Possibly."
Jou gritted his teeth at this reply. This boy was so damn… overconfident. He was the kind of guy who'd probably only avoided getting a real kicking this long because of his friends. "Listen, there should be a small boy outside, his name is Azizi. If we let you out, can you tell him that his grandfather's been taken in for a week?"
Barely pausing for thought, the prisoner – or not, as the case may be – nodded swiftly. 'Maybe he's not so bad after all,' Jou mused.
Soon enough, Hiroto's voice came round the corner. "Yeah, we've got one here… someone by the name of Adair should have been released yesterday and hasn't been recorded as leaving,"
Adair nodded brightly. "Told you so!" he chirped triumphantly. "So how about you guys let me out, and I'll go deliver your message, huh?"
Jou glanced at the boy, then turned his head away. "Forget it."
"What?" Adair rushed forward to the door of the cell as Jou turned away, almost slamming into the wood in his haste. "H-hey, you can't do that! I'm not supposed to be here! Let me out!"
Suddenly, Jou's face appeared at the door again, causing Adair to jump back in surprise and accidentally trip over his feet. "Not such a smart-mouth when things aren't going your way, are ya?" he grinned as the boy quickly clambered back to his feet, dusting his behind off. Jou unbolted the door and swung it open, standing to one side to allow Adair to pass.
The ebony-haired boy glared at Jou as he walked past. "I won't forget this, ya know…" he murmured sullenly. His demeanour suddenly brightened again though, and he chirped a quick "Thanks!" before dashing ahead and up the stairs toward the main palace, with Hiroto pursuing hotly. "Get back here!" Hiroto cried. "You have to be escorted out!"
"And I am, aren't I?"
Jou shook his head, a small smile on his lips as Hiroto hurled threat after threat at the boy, and closed the cell door again.
*~*~*~*~*~*
His morning wasted, Set had retired to his room, dismissing all present from his sight. He couldn't see why the peasants even bothered nowadays. Even if they had a reasonable claim, he didn't see why the palace coffers should cover their own bad fortune. "After all," he smirked as he paced back and forth. "How many of them came to their precious Pharaoh's aid when he needed it?"
Set scowled out the window as he passed it, spying the city outside the palace. He couldn't comprehend how even his finest spies had managed to lose the Pharaoh in that dump. It wasn't as if there were many hiding places, even if he did know he was being followed, and unless he had dramatically changed his appearance he stood out like a sore thumb. Either his spies were losing their touch – which would mean they'd also soon lose their necks – or someone was protecting the Pharaoh. He couldn't begin to imagine who though - if those two boys who had helped him during his pathetic rescue mission had now befriended him, they would be in for a very nasty surprise if they were found when he was. And at any rate, they wouldn't be able to hide him so well either. It was almost like someone had draped a shield about the Pharaoh, to completely camouflage him from anyone who might threaten him.
Set snorted at that concept. 'I'll be thinking the Gods are protecting him next' he scorned. 'Though quite why they'd betray the High Priest to protect that worthless has-been is beyond comprehension.'
No, it couldn't be the Gods. Set growled in annoyance as the answer continued to elude him, kicking out at a nearby stone on the floor and wincing as he felt the cut on his toe re-open.
"Not that it matters," he growled as he sat on his bed, hoisting his foot into his lap so he could examine how badly the cut had split. "I'll find the Pharaoh soon, and then he won't be a threat to me any longer."
Set may have been bent on absolute power, but he wasn't stupid. As long as the Pharaoh existed, someone outranked him. And he certainly couldn't have that. By having the Pharaoh killed, without leaving an heir since he'd fallen for that little fuck-puppet who was long dead, Set would ensure his position was sealed. He would rule the empire, and the world would quake before him.
A thin smirked graced the High Priest Lord of the Two Lands' face. Soon, absolute power would be his. Then his revenge could really begin.
*~*~*~*~*~*
[1] Inundation – Egypt very rarely sees rain. Instead, they received an inundation – the Nile flooded once a year, dropping fertile and damp soil across its banks. When the floodwaters withdrew, the people were able to farm the banks, thus providing enough crops for the coming year. This still happens even today. Osiris was recognised as the God of the Inundation, and if they received poor soil at any time, it was assumed they had upset Osiris somehow, in which case they would hold a festival in his honour to appease him for the next year.
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C'mon people, reviews! Please?
