Her Capture

Iato walked alone miles ahead of Atem's convoy, she had her hood off and her cloak wasn't drawn around her like usual. She came up over a hill to see Thebes spread out below her. It had been over two weeks since she had saved the Pharaoh. She was sure that if he had done what she had told him that his ribs would almost be healed by now. She heard the rustle of leaves and her eyes opened as she heard the called attack. Arrows streamed from all sides of her, a few piercing her wings. One slammed into her shoulder with the force of a bullet. She put her hand up to it as she fell to her knees.

"You are under arrest and shall be sold into slavery. Bird woman forgive me, my master wants you. You will give him great money." The man said. They caged the girl up and Talrim with her. She sat there, her glittering wings bleeding and her bag lying in the middle of the road. All she had was her medicine bag… and the book. They carried her down into Thebes and people crowded around them, most of them threw things at her and called her names, she turned her head towards the ground, her bangs creating a shadow where her eyes should be.

"Why… why me?" Iato asked softly. She put her hand on her staff. She thought about breaking out but her wings weren't able to fly.

'Everything will turn out alright in the end.' Talrim landed on her good arm. They heard a cheer coming from behind them and they looked back, 'Looks like the Pharaoh has returned.'

"Yeah I guess…" Iato wished so badly that she could be with him at this moment. She wondered what her friend would say right now if he saw her. They arrived at a nice huge house, close to the size of the palace, which it was right next to. They hoisted her out, two mean each held onto her wings but when they saw that she was not going to try to fly away they let go. She walked in with them, her falcon on her shoulder. She looked around, already feeling contained. She was a free spirit and wasn't meant to be contained other wise she would either die of sadness or she would stop singing. Her kind were daily being contained by men for their own purposes… they created the humans but they contained the goddesses all the same. What she was… was a bird, she really was just a bird to them… even though she was a human… or well close to a human they believed that she could be contained and made to do things that she didn't want to. See normally when she sang her voice was cheerful and carefree and she sang silly little songs about different things or sometimes she would just sing the tune and no words, like a bird but when she was in captivity her kind became very sad and would perch in one place and not move or eat, their wings would loose their glitter and their feathers would turn grayish and they would start to fall off. And if you ever got them to sing it would be not what you wanted it to be. It would be a sad un happy song, and it would make your heart cry to see what else happens to them but this man didn't care. He wanted to hear her sing, and he was going to have her help in the medical tent at the temple while they built it.

The men escorted her in, led her into the large metal cage and left, locking the barred doors. It was full of perches and places to sit on and even a swing but she couldn't get there, her wings were too sore. She dragged herself over to a small hay nest type of thing. She dragged herself in and sat there. It wasn't a very big cage. It was along one wall of a huge dining room. It was rectangular and made of steel. A man walked in to see her.

"Well… well now so you're the Guardian Iato… not so tough now are you?" He asked.

"I am sorry for you. You have a low self esteem so you are cruel to others to prove, wrongly, to yourself that you are better than the rest. What does having me prove?" She said softly.

"You… you are sorry for me? I would be sorry for yourself you freak. Look at you… pathetic I had though that you would be in some kind of silk and satin but no, you're wearing a plain cotton dress and a cloak." The man spat.

"What is your name?" She asked him

"My name is Master to you." He said and she shook her head.

"No, I will not call you master, you are not my master." Iato said. She was hidden from view under the overhang of hay. She laid out her things, her most prized possessions were in the medicine bag. The beetle he had given her, the book, her blades which she hid under the hay of her bed. She heard the metal of a lock clank and the man walked in, the soft hay that was on the floor of the cage crunching under his feet.

"I am you master… understand? The Pharaoh is coming tonight and you are going to sing. If you don't I'm going to kill the bird. But here's something of a warning." He dragged her out of the nest and dragged her over to the wall. He pulled out a whip and laid 10 lashes across her shoulders. She flinched slightly and he brought a pair of shears to her face. "You better sing or I'll clip your wings. You have to wear that." He said pointing at a package on the floor. "Hopefully someone will buy you from me tonight." He said smugly as the girl coughed up a bit of blood.

"Mr. could you do me one favor please?" She asked him and he stopped. "Will you please bring me my bag, it's in the cage." She said pointing out the door. He nodded and snapped his fingers a slave came running. She nodded as he told her what to do. He handed her the key to the cage. Iato's wings were already turning off-white. She dragged herself over to the package and then turned around as the girl walked in. She scurried away, hiding in the darkness of the nest. Then she saw that the girl was like her, but her wings were invisible so he wouldn't make her sing.

"What's wrong…?" She asked walking forward. She kneeled and crawled into the nest with her.

"He's keeping me here… keeping me here and I don't like it." Iato said and the girl nodded.

"Aren't you the Guardian Iato?" The girl asked as she sat her bag down on the hay.

"Yes, I am… but keeping me here… I don't understand it." Iato said looking around. All the others of her kind looked up to her as their Guardian as their savior. But now she had been caught.

"You are known to us all." The girl said and her wings appeared, they were a brilliant gold, the sign of a youngling. "My mother was captured here and I was born in this cage, my mother taught me how to make my wings disappear. Are as old as they say?" She asked as Talrim flew down.

"Yes, I am hundreds of years old but I was born again 15 years ago. I still keep my memories but I was renewed and refreshed. What is your name child?" Iato asked.

"My name is Naira. My mother named me the Areos name for bravery." Areos was the name for their kind. They were level with the gods and goddesses because they did not create them. They were created by Nut and Gehb like the Gods and they were called the Areos. Air-Ree-Ahs Iato and her brother Iratos were the first two created then her brother had children with a goddess and that began the Areos. She had given birth to one daughter, her name was Siria. She had left home when she was 16 to marry a mortal but she hadn't heard of her for years. The Areos lived for years and years and never died unless they were captured or their wings were so badly injured that they couldn't be fixed.

"My mother was Siria, the Guardian's daughter." Naira said to her and Iato gasped.

"You're my granddaughter." Iato hugged the girl to her and she began to cry softly. "I have a reason to sing… thank you my dear. Someday we will get out of this place and we will go to Areastos… the home of the Areos." Iato said to her and she smiled.

"Let's see what you get to wear." Naira said opening up the package. Inside was a beautiful dress. It was a pure white color and was tight and form fitting. Iato pulled off her clothes and slipped the dress on. It was tight and Iato put her hand to her breast, coughing. It was low in the front and it was held up by a beautiful diamond collar. It was looped and completely flattering. The dress was cut short on one side, her right, up to her thigh and then feathered down to the floor across to her left side. She left her glove on for Talrim and then pulled the gold scarab necklace out and hung it around her neck. She pinned her hair up in a loose bun and tried as best she could to clean up her shoulder and wings. She pulled out the arrows and cleaned the wounds the best she could and Naira left as she was called, locking the door she gave her grandmother a sad look then left. Iato's wings wouldn't stop bleeding. She tried everything she knew until she remembered the Iato Lotus. She took one out and ate it. The sweet flavor dripped over her tongue and her wounds began to heal. But in their place grew grey feathers, as were the rest of her wings. The sparkle had faded from her wings already because she was so used to being free. She crawled back into her nest with the book.

"He's here!" She heard someone say and looked up as someone escorted the Pharaoh in. He was still bandaged but apparently he was doing better. She flipped through the book as he came up to the cage to look in and as he did tears forming in her eyes thinking about her predicament. Tears dropped once again onto the picture she had drawn of him. He saw her silhouette but didn't know it was her. He walked off being escorted by the Master of the house.

'Don't cry dear, don't cry.' Talrim cooed, brushing her wing across her face.

"But Talrim, if he sees me like this then he will think I'm disgusting. I mean… look at him talking with the mortals. They don't know what it's like to live a captive life." She said looking out. She got thirsty and she stood up and walked over to a small pool of water. She kneeled down to take a drink but then heard a noise that she couldn't wait to hear: the sound of the lock being unlatched. She leaned down and cupped water in her hand and tried it, then spat it back out, wiping off her mouth. It had to have been standing there for days. She stood up and turned around to see Atem.

"You're the girl… the girl that saved me." Atem said and she took a step back from him, backing into the corner, the grey feathers falling off her wings. "Why didn't you tell me that you belonged to this man… why did you run away?" Atem asked.

"I didn't run away from him. I don't belong to this monster. I belong to no one. I was free until his men shot me down and dragged me here… now I'm stuck like this." Iato sighed turning around.

"Your wings… your wings what happened?" He asked and she kept her back to him.

"When one of my kind is captured our wings turn grey. We loose our energy and we don't sing. What the humans haven't realized is that we are not pets, we are equals if not more. If we are kept like this…" She turned around and Atem saw the welts were the man had whipped her. "It is not good… but if we are happy and we have blue skies and green grasses… we sing the most beautiful song, it's so strikingly beautiful that even we love it, that's why we love to be free, because we love our song, the song that each and everyone of us carry in our hearts. The song that no one but two can sing together. The song… the song that one starts and the other completes…" She said putting her hand to his heart. "The song that each person, no matter what race, be it human, Areos, God or animal… we all have it and we all have another piece of it that is within the heart of another. Pharaoh you should hear us when we sing together, a duet is the most beautiful kind of music. You should hear us." She said softly and he put his hand on hers.

"I do hear… but what I want to hear is you… I want to hear your song. Will you sing for me?" Atem asked her softly putting his hand under her chin.

"You want me to sing for you?" She asked him softly. She closed her eyes and listened… the Areos had a power to hear the sing in another's heart and sing it but the song that she heard from his heart was the duet. She heard the missing part of her song. She opened her mouth and began to sing. Her powerful, beautiful voice made everyone in the room stop. There were no words to this song, it was just a melody that had just found harmony. Naira heard it and ran in. Many other of the Areos that worked for this man walked over. They recognized the song, it was the fabled Song of Iato, many had tried to copy it but no one could sing it but their leader. Their leader had only sang it once before but then her love had died. The Areos, when they hear the song of another, the finished song, they all show their true forms so all over the magnificent house, the bird-like race was changing into their original form, their wings bursting from their backs. All of them different but the same in a way but the only one of them known to have white wings was their leader. Her wings were pure and blinding white, when the lights shone the diamond dust sparkled brilliantly.

She never seemed to stop singing not even to take a breath but then they all listened closer and they heard the second part of the song rising from her own voice from his heart. Tears were forming in her eyes as she sang. Her voice rising over the entire city, in the streets people stopped and heard the song, wondering where it was coming from. Her voice was so beautiful that people actually began to gather around the man's house. An idea came to him, he was a money hungry man and never seemed to get enough… he could have people pay to hear her sing. Yes he would start the next week, she was the first one that had ever sung for him and he wasn't going to loose this opportunity.

Iato heard something that surprised her. Rising with her own voice was a deep baritone, she paused a moment as he continued. Atem had heard the song and was singing it with her. They laced their fingers together singing their angelic duet. Most of the people were wiping their eyes, the song was sad and happy at the same time because Iato was still unhappy about being captured but she had found her other half, the other half of her song. Iato gasped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was cold and harsh. She turned around to face the man who claimed he owned her. Atem watched in horror as they pulled her away from him. She reached for him trying to keep him close but the man dragged her away and snarled at Atem to get out of the cage. Iato huddled in a ball on her bed, crying to herself. Then the man, noticing all the others shoved them in with her and pulled rope that lowered a velvet curtain over the cage. Atem made a move towards the cage but his friend that had come with him put his hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Atem couldn't believe the way that song had made him feel, he couldn't even explain it.

The guests sat down and Atem sat to the right of the master of the house. Seto, the High Priest of Amun, was with him that night.

"I've never seen you like that." Seto said to Atem. He was wearing the hat that the priests wore, a white piece of fabric hung down the back to keep the sun off his neck. A cape was around his shoulders and a beautiful collar was around his neck in electrolyte and turquoise. His kilt was white and light blue like his cape and hat. His tanned, lean body was tall and muscular. His eyes were a piercing icy blue and his hair was brown and blonde.

"…" Atem didn't answer him, he was too busy thinking about the girl. He still didn't know her name or why she had moved him like that. It was what she was talking about, the song within their hearts. But for some reason their songs had melded perfectly together. He poked at his food absentmindedly. "Trey." Atem said turning to the owner.

"Yes my lord." He said.

"What do you feed them?" He asked talking about the Areos.

"Bird seed… they're birds aren't they?" He laughed.

"She's unhappy, she won't sing if you keep her like that. She needs fresh water, trees… a garden… you're never going to get her to sing if you keep her like that." Atem said.

"What? Will she sing if I do that?" Trey asked and Atem thought about it.

"Maybe I should ask her." He said and Trey nodded and led the Pharaoh to the cage. Atem watched as he unlocked the cage. "If you try any funny stuff Trey, I will personally have you murdered." Atem threatened. He walked in then turned back. "Give me the lock and key." Atem said and the man handed it to him. Atem shut the door and walked over in the dim light to where they were all gathered. They all seemed to be looking at something but when they had heard footsteps Iato hid it.

"It's me." Atem said and a whisper ran across the group. They parted as Iato walked up to him.

"Pharaoh… you…" She put her hand to his heart.

"I talked with Trey, he says that if you will sing for him he will turn this place into a garden and provide you with fresh water." Atem said brushing a stray piece of hair away from her face.

"I will not sing for him… but if you ask I shall sing for you." Iato said to him softly and moved closer to him. "Because you complete my song, I can sing for you anywhere. Anywhere you ask… if you asked me to sing for you in the deepest pit of hell I would." Iato said looking deep into his ruby orbs. "The deepest pit of hell." Iato whispered to him.

"Then sing for me... sing for me… I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." Atem told her in a soft voice, kissing the tender spot behind her ear.

"I will… I will… I will not fail you. But if you could please get him to put in that garden… I couldn't sing, even if I wanted to if I have no water. Please do that for me." Iato said and he nodded.

"You have forgotten one important detail…" Atem said. "What in the world is your name?" He asked her and she laughed.

"I'm Iato, Guardian Iato… you told me that you were looking for me and… Pharaoh I am sorry… I really am sorry about your sister. I wish I could have helped." She said and Atem bowed his head.

"It's alright… I miss her but either way she was going to die because she was already dieing." Atem said, then completely spontaneous he kissed her lips and walked out. She put her hand to her lips.