Yes, there had been a change in my profile. There had also been a change in this story's summary, with some inspiration from Leona Saclat. Thank you! I'd also like to thank Yami-AJ Yu-Yu-InuCaptor, Chynna (aka sistah21), weiss kittyn and Yami no Tsuabsa.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, and never will.
Chapter 6- True Disguises
Waiting was quite tiresome. Selket had been doing so for nearly an hour, and was bored to say the least. She was sitting underneath a palm tree on the outskirts of a tiny village called Udjat.
She yawned once. It was quickly stifled when Selket heard footsteps. She used the trunk of the palm to keep from being seen.
Two men passed by on horseback at a trot. On normal bases, Selket would have stayed where she was. But it was too easy to recognize the Eye of Horus on their clothing and the horses- Pharaoh's men. /Well, this could prove to be entertainment. /
Quickly and silently, Selket rose from under the palm tree and followed the riders at a walk. Soon the walk became a run as caught up to them, but remained unseen.
As the trot became a gallop, Selket took a leap and landed on the back of one of the horses. Before the rider could react, Selket had unsheathed a dagger and slit his throat.
It took a few moments for his fellow to notice. When he looked over, he nearly fell off his horse when he saw his friend limply leaning over the neck of the horse. And with Selket there, who was waving hello with her bloody dagger.
She smirked as she saw the fear on his face. Then, leaning over the body, Selket grabbed the horse's reigns. She snapped the reigns to the side, causing the horse to veer directly in front of the other one. The other horse skidded to a halt, giving time for Selket to thrust herself forward and stab the rider. Now both men lay dead on their horses.
Selket jumped off the horse as swiftly as she had getting on. She calmed both the animals down a bit (and made sure the riders wouldn't fall off) before a hit to the behinds caused them to run off into the desert, carrying the corpses with them.
Selket smiled her accomplishment. Satisfied, she moved to sheath her dagger. However, all she gripped was air. Her smile became a frown as she confusedly looked at her empty hand.
Someone laughed loudly. She turned around to see her old friend standing behind her. He dangled her dagger between his fingers playfully.
"Having fun?" Bakura said teasingly. Selket growled as she reached for her dagger, only to have Bakura pull it away again.
He laughed again, then it back. "Too bad…I had thought you would have more interest in today's little ploy then in a little knife…" Bakura said, chuckling all the while.
"Oh? Do tell…"
Selket sat by the Nile, washing clothes among some other women. However, she was also staring at her reflection. The person in the water was certainly a stranger, because her complexion was scar-free.
Bakura had given her a pouch with powder in it, which he said was called "make-up" (though Selket had absolutely no idea what Bakura was making up for). He told her to apply it to her scars, and that it would hide them flawlessly. But, of course, if the make-up was undone, her scars would return. So she had to be careful. But then again, a thief was always careful.
The other women around Selket were collecting their wash and leaving. After quickly applying a little more make-up, she did the same and followed them. The other women chattered as they walked on the path up the bank. They soon went off the path to the slaves' houses while Selket continued on.
The path ended at the work field. Millions of slaves practically covered every grain of sand in the area. A good few carrying supplies, others making stone out of mud, a few building devices, even hauling bricks, and yet many lay motionless in sand.
Selket scowled in disgust. /Weak fools…/ she thought to herself. How could anyone serve a human being who was a "God"?
She moved down from the path and was lost in the crowd of slaves. Though no one paid her mind, she still scanned them for the slave-drivers. She stopped when something interesting caught her attention.
The crowd around her was stepping back, moving away from something. It took a moment for Selket to realize why.
In the middle of where the crowd had been moments before was a stone statue. /A very large one, at that/ Selket remarked/but this crowd…what is it?/. At least a hundred slave-men surrounded the statue, each holding a rope.
A slave driver waved to the slaves. On this signal, the men started pulling.
As the statue began to rise, Selket was amazed as to what she saw. It was a statue of a creature. It looked remarkably like a bird, but not quite. It had a long tail which was partially wrapped around a leg that looked like a bird's, but much, much thicker. The statue was crouched on these legs but its upper body balanced the weight. Selket could see it had lizard-like hands, sharp claws protruding from the fingertips. The head looked like no bird she had seen before however. Like an eagle, but monstrous.
That was what it was. A monster. But Selket could not help but to be mesmerized by its wings jetting out of its back, unfolded and extended as if it was trying to reach the sun itself.
"The hawk with the wings of the sun…" someone whispered behind her, "It is said to be the Pharaoh's guardian spirit, sent to protect the Almighty Pharaoh by Ra himself."
"So is it a God?" somebody else asked.
"I suppose so," said the first one.
The conversation was cut short when a loud yell echoed through the crowd. The statue began tilting .towards Selket's area in the crowd. There were more yells to grab the ropes, but it was too late; the statue was toppling over. Its shadow covered Selket as well as many of the slaves as it fell. Many of the slaves were running from the crowd to safety. Selket tried to move but the crowd was still too thick. /I can't move…! Stop it NOW/
(flash)
As the statue was almost upon them, it was flung the other direction by an invisible force. The statue stood upright on its base and wobbled. It stilled itself quickly and all was silent.
The crowd was deathly silent. Then a man pointed to Selket and whispered a single word that chilled Selket's blood to the bone, "Demon. A demon in disguise…".
"Demon," the crowd echoed. "Demon! Demon! DEMON!" The crowd shouted. They backed away from Selket hastily. "DEMON! DEMON!" Someone threw a small rock. It hit her square in the forehead. Another rock was thrown, this time hitting her in the stomach. Selket doubled over. More rocks were thrown, people shouting all the while.
Selket sunk down to the sand in a tight ball, arms covering her face in an attempt to stop the pain. The rocks pelted against her skin, opening wounds on her arms, hands, face, and legs. Blood dripped from and covered her entire body. Tears of pain and hurt ran down her cheeks, mixing with the blood. /Stop…stop…ST-/
Her single-worded thoughts were broken as someone lifted her up. The rocks were gone. Selket willed herself to struggle against them but found she could not. Instead, she let the feeling of being in another's arms lull her to sleep.
When Selket woke up she was still being carried, but her grogginess wasn't letting her see where. She felt her body be laid gently on top of something soft. After a while she could hear footsteps growing fainter and the closing of a door. Voices could be heard outside the door. The voices continued for a time before growing silent, finally leaving Selket alone.
She laid there for a while, then slowly lifted herself up. She blinked to clear her vision and finally looked at her surroundings.
She was on sleeping cloths, but they were the softest she had ever been in and were high off the floor. The room she was in was mostly a shade of tan, with a few fine tapestries. The windows had curtains over them, making the room seem darker. It was clean and fragrant, easily making it the nicest room she had been in in the longest time.
From where she was sitting, Selket could see there was another room with the door left wide open. Curious, Selket got off the bedding slowly and limped her way to it. Inside was a bath, with a water bucket next to it. Near the bath was a shiny square hanging on the wall. Letting her curiosity take the better of her again, Selket looked into the square.
Selket held back a gasp as she saw herself in it. However, her attention changed from the new object to the fact she was still covered in her own blood. She looked at the bath. She might as well take advantage of it.
After a long time, Selket came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. A robe had been laid on the bedding. Not caring when or why the clothes had appeared, she slowly dressed before getting back into the bed. From there, Selket fell into a deep sleep.
That certainly was a memorable day. I never expected it to turn out like it did though. No matter. Of course, Bakura just had to cut a few strings on his 'little ploy'- or perhaps you could say he 'cut a few ropes' this time. Heh. To tell you the truth, I never want to go through that again. But of course, the Pharaoh will pay for all our suffering in the end. Just you wait. Wait and see.
Wow, that took a long while! At least three hours each day for three days. How do you other people write such long chapters? Wait…I now have two pages of reviews? Thank you all… In any case, here are the individual reviewers' "thank yous".
Leona Saclat – You have been the biggest help to me. Thank you so much! I liked your idea, but I didn't want to use it exactly as it was. Originality is very important to me. But like I said, I got the inspiration of the new summary after thinking about what you wrote. Thank you!
Yami-AJ Yu-Yu-InuCaptor – Are you saying you don't write well, or that you think I write very well? I take it as the latter, since you write very well and interestingly. And on a side note, did you find me through the fanfic "Cerulean Eyes"? Anyway, I'm glad you like it, and thank you for the review!
Chynna - Oh? Well, I'm glad you liked my story as much as I liked yours! Thank you for the review!
weiss kittyn – I'm so glad your story's not done! I'm also glad you think this is a great story. Sorry about the absence of my e-mail address – unfortunately, it's my name, and I've been having trouble with my e-mails anyway so I can't create a new one I can use. Ah well. Thank you for continuing your story and for reviewing mine!
Yami no Tsuabsa – To answer your assumption, you assumed correctly. The plot is interesting? You won't believe how happy I was to hear that. True, I'm easily made happy, but still. The plot took/is taking me a lot of time and thought. Also, thanks for the info on the clothing. The kilt thing was a lucky guess on my part. Also, the fact that the Millennium Eye is a simplified version of the Eye of Horus is true. I know their not quite the same, but I was hoping you wouldn't notice ; lol. You're clever. And it's very nice to know you will read more. Thank you for the informative review!