Tale 6. Loyalty

This actually takes place before they have Ryoo. It is about the thieves' true devotion to their leader. It's very sad and Yugi is very nice.

We were surrounded.

"We'll fight to the death!" Maadrath declared bravely.

"Not likely, cowards," one of the soldiers smirked.

I couldn't see a way out. It was a choice of capture or utter defeat… and wasn't ready for that. I had to preserve this group of thieves. They were all I had left of any kind of family.

"Stop!" I ordered.

"But Nahkti…."Maadrath said.

"Don't hurt them!" I yelled to the soldiers. "Take me but leave them alone."

"Wait, Nahkti-san, just what are you doing?" Maadrath asked, approaching me.

"No, Maadrath. If I am to exact my revenge on the Pharaoh and his family I can't have all of us dying. This is the only way." Then I whispered in her ear, "I'll escape if I can. If I can't you and Beneset will have to lead them. Preserve my vision!"

Maadrath gasped, her eyes were wet.

"Let my thieves go!" I ordered the soldiers.

The back away, leaving a path.

"Well, are you going to take me…" I smirked, "or are you too scared?"

The soldiers looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Was it a trap?

One walked up to me and tied me up. Then they led me away. I looked back. My thieves looked like they were at my funeral. Didn't they trust me to be resourceful enough. I gave them an encouraging grin… and got a buffet on the head from a soldier.

At the Pharaoh's court…

"We caught this man trying to rob a tomb!" One of the guards accused, pointing a finger at me. Wasn't already obvious enough?

"Is this true?" The Pharaoh boomed at me.

"Yes!" I replied as defiantly as I could.

"Take him to the dungeon and do with him as you like!" he ordered, "we will have the execution tomorrow."

I got another wack on the head as we left.

"Yeoch! What by Osiris was that for?" I demanded.

"Shudup! Theif!" They snickered.

That evening in a prison cell….

The world spun. I lay on the clammy floor. I barely felt anything. My head hurt and my nostrils were filled with the smell of blood and mold.

After the soldiers had taken me into the dungeon they had taken my robes, jewelry and beaten me until I was like this. I hadn't resisted until it was too late. I thought if I just submitted they'd loose interest and then I'd have time to find a way out. Not now. Not in this state. The only parts of my body I could feel were the parts that were wounded and then only the wounds and the hot blood ebbing out of them.

I had always been intrigued by blood, be it my own or someone else's but now it was the only thing I could feel, smell, and taste and it made me feel sick. I was about to let myself pass out when I heard talking above me.

"If you captured the leader, how hard could it have been to capture the rest?"

"Easy, my lord."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Well, it's hard to explain, my lord. This one, he gave himself up. He didn't want anymore damage done to the others."

"What?"

"He said to take him and leave the others."

"I won't punish you, but that was a foolish thing to do, captain. He wanted the others to be able to rise up again and continue what he started but I don't blame him."

"Pharaoh-sama… but maybe there was something else…"

"Yugi-chan?"

"Maybe there was some genuine affection in that corrupted mind of his. Couldn't it be possibility those thieves were his friends. I mean I feel kind of bad for him. Come with me."

"Pharaoh?"

"You are excused, Jouno-san, go report to your duties."

"Aye, Pharaoh-sama."

Footsteps.

I felt a small hand on me and I looked up into huge purple eyes.

"You're still alive?" He asked incredulously.

"What did you expect from me. I'm not some wimp Pharaoh!" I coughed blood.

The young slave didn't even flinch from the insult. "Here…" he held a flask of water to my lips. I drank thirstily.

"Yugi-chan, are you sure this is safe?"

"Can't you see what they did to him. The worst criminal doesn't deserve to be treated this way."

"N…" the Pharaoh bent down next to me.

"What are you doing here?" I grimaced.

"Hey, that's no way to greet me," the Pharaoh chastised… but he didn't mean it in a bad way.

I felt strange. Could this really be the son of the man who ordered all of my people killed? No! I ordered myself. This was the man who would order my own death tomorrow.

I groaned as Yugi poured medicine into my wounds.

"No! Stop moving!" the little one ordered, gently wiping me with a wet cloth.

Despite myself, tears were running down my cheeks.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" Yugi asked. I nodded agreement. I couldn't let them know why I was really crying.

"W-why are you doing this?" I asked Yugi.

"Because, no one should have to hurt like this. No one!"

"But your master is going to have me killed tomorrow. What does it matter?"

"It doesn't matter because we will all die someday. If we die today, tomorrow, or 50 years from now it doesn't matter. You can't just hurt someone like this," Yugi replied binding my wounds.

"But I've hurt people before. I guess isn't it 'justice' to let your people hurt me back?"

"I don't think that way. Maybe you were wrong but maybe if I show you how to be kind, you will too… and maybe you won't but if we are cruel to each other, who will learn to be kind to each other. There, is that better?"

I could sit up now. My eyes had cleared and I could see Yugi more clearly now. He looked down at me sympathetically. Feh! I didn't need anyone's sympathy but still… it felt good to have someone care.

"Well," he said, "See you soon…"

"Yeah…" I grunted… see you at my funeral.

I listened to Yugi and Atemu's footsteps as I laid my sore, exhausted body down.

"Did you really think that would change him?"

"No, but I think what I did was right…"

Soon, I was asleep.

The next morning…

My bandages were gone. Yugi had probably taken them so no one would know what he had done the last night. I rubbed myself. The medicine had done a considerable job healing my wounds. I tried standing and found it didn't do anything more than make my head spin a little.

Just then, a couple of burly looking guards came by.

"C'mon!" one ordered grabbing me roughly as the other put shackles on my wrists. " It's your turn."

They shoved me out of the catacombs and onto the street. I didn't, no, I couldn't even resist. I felt broken and weak. I had never felt like this before, not since that day I saw all the people I ever knew slaughtered. I was pushed, shoved, and smacked onto a platform. The Pharaoh was standing on a podium to the right of it. I felt dizzy from the loss of blood the other night.

"…sentenced to impalement for disturbing the spirits…"

So that was what they did to tomb robbers. I had always known it was something rather gruesome but I had never taken the time to actually figure out what it was. I didn't feel so good. I noticed Yugi. He looked terrified and clung tightly to the Pharaoh's cloak. He looked up at me. Please… his eyes seemed to beg. He wanted me to stop and leave my past behind even if it was for only a few moments.

Sorry, Yugi, I couldn't. Not with the past I had. Maybe you could, but I'm not like you.

The two guards grabbed my arms. I didn't resist. I couldn't but I knew my thieves would avenge me like had wanted to avenge the people of Kuru Eruna.

"Stop! Release him now!" Shouted a strong female voice. We turned around. It was Maadrath and the others all on horses.

"No! You guys! Get away!" I yelled at them, chains clanking.

"Sorry, Nahkti but we're here to rescue you and there's nothing you can do about it!" Maadrath insisted.

"Thank you…" I said my eyes felt wet. I couldn't cry now not in front of all these people.

"Well!" Maadrath and I shouted in one voice, "Kill them!"

The thieves quickly dispersed the once excited crowd. Maadrath leapt up on the podium with a large rod and whacked the guard on the head with it. The guard let out a groan and was out cold. She grabbed the keys off his belt and deftly freed my wrists.

"You okay?" she asked, "You look a bit green."

"What do you think? I'm not some wimp Pharaoh."

"What exactly do they do to tomb robbers anyway?"

I felt my stomach retch and pointed quickly to a large stake. Maadrath turned green as well as I threw up.

"Stop this! Stop this at once!" Atemu shouted to the thieves who were viciously attacking the people. Of course it did no good and Maadrath and I quickly joined them.

Yugi POV

"Let me try!" I said to Pharaoh-sama.

"No! I can't let you get hurt!" he replied.

But I jumped off the podium toward the chaos anyway.

"No!" I yelled as I stepped between Nahkti and a man he was fighting. "You'll get nowhere if you just keep hurting people. Nahkti grimaced at me and raised his fist but I just kept looking him in the eyes.

"Alright, just this once, for you," He whispered. "Hey! Guys! Stop! We're going!" he yelled to the other thieves

They stared at each other questioningly but followed their leader anyway.

"Should I send my army after them now?" Atemu-sama asked me as we watched them ride away into the distance.

"No, let them go."

"It was a dangerous thing you did there, y'know."

"Yes, I know…. But I also know there is some good in that thief no matter how mean he makes himself out to be.

"You disobeyed the Pharaoh…"

"A terrible crime?" I smiled.

"Punishment!" he yelled ask he tackled me.

"Ow, that's my head!"

"Oh, sorry… tickle tickle tickle!"

"Ooo, ah, hahahahah…"

Normal Nahkti POV

Back at the hideout…

"Maadrath, you're crazy for trying to save me you know."

"Yes, I know…"

"You could have all been killed."

"Nahkti-sama," Karia said, "You're our leader and we'll have you or none other."

"Who else will I tease?" Maadrath asked.

"Who else will I look up to?" Beneset asked.

"Who else will lead us like you did. We'd never live with ourselves if we just let you die like that," the others all said in one voice.

"You are our one and only leader. You brought this rag-tag group together. If it wasn't for you, we never would have met. We will give our loyalty to none other than you," Sebnekht said.

"But to show we really care. We won't just do whatever you say. We aren't your servants, we're your friends… and we had decided it didn't matter. We were going to save you or die trying," Beneset added.

I smiled, "You guys are the best friends I ever had."

"Group hug!" Karia laughed as all the thieves jumped me at once. We all laughed at ourselves on top of each other.

"When we're old," Maadrath said, "We'll think back and think: we were friends. We hung out together and watched the sunset paint the desert red."

"If we live that long," Houresus joked.

We all laughed and then grimaced at how true that joke most likely actually was.

"Erm, you're on my feet…"

"Sorry Nahkt-sama…"

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

"Getoffgetoffgetoff!"

"Ow! Not there!"

"Sorry."

"Pardon me."

When we finally untangled ourselves I said, "Uh, I got to go and re-fix my wounds up."

"Re?" I heard Karia ask as I walked away.

As I poured water and wine in the wounds I thought of Yugi.

"Yugi!" I said to the wind. "When I'm Pharaoh. I swear I won't kill you. You'll be free of that wimp Atemu and you'll serve me! You don't deserve to die. Thank you for all you've done!"

I hoped the message had somehow been carried to him… and I felt like I had thanked him in my own strange way.