Yay! An update! Sorry it took so long, lost inspiration for a bit, plus I had Finals and Graduation!
Cheer for me! I'm done with school and now have to suffer through the real world. I'm nervous as all heck because I swore I would look for a job this summer.
But enough about me, that's not why you read this stuff. ONWARD!
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Chapter Fifteen: Between Shamans and Princes…
Malik awoke to the sound of a light rain against his window. Opening one eye he saw that it was late morning and rolled onto his side to avoid the day.
He promptly remembered that he had instructed Rishid to have him up at dawn and sat up with a start.
- - - -
Rishid finished brushing the fur of his horse, and turned to see that Isis had also finished. "You didn't have to help me, Lady Isis," he said. "It is my duty to see to these things so that you and Master Malik are not troubled by them."
"I am no longer a Priestess, Rishid," the woman smiled. "As such, I deserve no special treatment anymore."
"I do not serve you because you were once a Priestess, Lady," the man said. "I have sworn my life to you and Master Malik, and since the day of my nativity to this instant I have served you because that is what I want."
"Rishid…"
It was just then that Malik stormed into the stable, rain water dampening his hair. "Rishid! I wanted to be up at dawn!"
"I told him to leave you," Isis said, taking a towel out of her saddlebag before she approached her younger brother.
"We could have made a good distance by now, even with the rain!" The youth groaned as the woman wiped the water from his face and hair.
"You haven't slept well these past few days," she replied. "So far, you haven't actually required Rishid to wake you. The fact that you slept through the night without any disturbances and you slept past dawn seemed like a blessing, so I allowed you to sleep." She placed the towel upon the youth's head as she rubbed his sandy-colored hair dry. "Furthermore, I sense this rain will get too dangerous for us to travel today."
Malik tore the towel from his sister's hands as she covered his head again. "That still doesn't give you the right to—"
The youth cut off as a series of shouts and screams of profanity filled the air, calling his attention to the street outside.
Looking out the stable doors, he found other heads poking out the windows of the surrounding buildings to see what the disturbance was though several windows shut as women sought to protect their children's ears.
Malik stepped out into the street and soon found the source of the cursing fast approaching. Two horses of the finest breed—matching the Pharaoh's own mount—sped up the street, each dragging a man with their arms tied to a length of rope in their wake. The desert youth recalled such a punishment for thieves and vagabonds, and he wondered, recalling what he and his siblings had gone through a day prior, if that was the case here.
Malik saw the taller of the two riders and froze when he heard a familiar ringing noise. It grew louder as he approached, and then faint when he sped past the stable.
- - - -
Seto dismounted as they stopped in front of an inn and went to see how well the rope held up during the drag, satisfied that it wasn't nearly as damaged as the bandit it held. Of course, he and Mokuba were mostly at fault for their assailants' beaten and battered condition.
"Can I…help you?"
He turned to meet a middle-aged man holding a circular tray over his head to keep his head dry.
"My brother and I—" Mokuba waved from his saddle, "—were confronted by these men, sustained some injury and were nearly robbed," Seto said. "Do you know where they may be held so that we will have no further worry of this?"
Arthur blinked as he processed what the young man had said; it was obvious the blue-eyed youth was not a local from his formal dialect. "Well, yes," he finally replied. "There is a…prison of sorts a couple blocks away where we're keeping the other bandits."
"Other bandits?"
"Yes. We've had a difficulty with them lately, but it's all taken care of now," Arthur smiled.
"HEY! Help! These guys're crazy!" The bandit behind Seto's horse exclaimed, having finally regained his breath. "They're tryin' to kill us! They're nut—"
Seto stepped on the man's head, crushing his face into the mud of the street and effectively silencing any further outcries. He then looked back at Arthur, not really caring about the man's slightly horrified expression. "Are you the owner of this establishment?"
"Uh… Yes! Yes, I am," he nodded.
"Are there any vacancies?"
"Oh! Yes, there are rooms available."
"Hold one for myself and my brother," Seto instructed. "We've been on the road for a while and will want a decent place to sleep when we return from dropping these men off."
The innkeeper nodded. "Of course."
As Seto turned to mount Alumiss, he caught a faint ringing sound. Curious, he caught a sandy-blond color shimmering out of the corner of his eye and turned to see three desert-dwellers making their way toward the inn.
- - - -
Sapphire met amethyst and something was struck.
The clear tone of a strange bell rang out, filling the air with light of every color.
- - - -
Isis jerked when she felt an enormous spiritual presence emitting from her brother; looking with her second sight she could see a gold flare outline the youth, strings of it leading out to her and Rishid and another possibly belonging to the Pharaoh Atem. But there was something that looked like a chain of light leading out to…
She followed it and was surprised to find it connected with the brown-haired, blue-eyed youth that had just entered town. She was shocked further when she saw a similar white light surrounding him; a thread of white connected to the black-haired boy on horseback, and a couple others leading out into the distance.
- - - -
"Nii-sama?" Mokuba nudged his older sibling, who jerked with a start at the contact. "Are you alright?" He asked as he put his hand to his heart as it pounded rapidly from the scare.
Seto looked from Mokuba to the desert youth who rubbed his eyes dizzily.
'Something about that seemed so familiar…' he thought. Trying to recall where he had first heard and seen that, he could only get vague images from his childhood of a young man with…silver hair?
Finally deciding it must have been something caused by fatigue he mounted his horse. "Let's go."
Without questioning further, Mokuba followed after his brother.
- - - -
Malik watched after the two riders until they turned the corner.
'Again…' That was the second time he had heard that sound and seen the light. 'But what does it mean?'
"Malik, are you alright?" Isis asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I…" He looked off in the direction the two had gone. "I'm not sure…"
Arthur turned to three of his guests and he held the tray over Isis' head to keep the rain off her already-wet head, smiling at her confused expression. "Come now! Have you had breakfast yet?"
"Uh…" Isis looked to Malik and Rishid who both nodded. "No. We have not eaten…this morning." Her grasp of the new language was much better than their own and thus chose to leave most of the talking to her.
His smile broadened. "Well then, what do you say we correct that? It's almost lunch now, actually. So let us go eat."
- - - -
After visiting several villages during their journey, and having all of them refuse them board, it seemed strange to the Ishtars to be treated so kindly all of a sudden. Arthur served several of his best breakfast and lunch dishes and treated them to the best extent and with so much gusto you could taste it in the air.
Malik lifted a spoon from the table and stared at it; it was similar to their eating utensils back in the Gold regions, however it lacked the teeth along the top. He then looked at a fork and quirked an eyebrow curiously as he looked between the two utensils. "This country is strange…"
"Is it culture shock?" Asked a voice directly beside the desert youth.
He turned to the table next to the one he shared with his sister and Rishid, meeting Mokuba's deep blue gaze. He and his elder brother had returned rather quickly from putting away their assailants, quietly taking a table in the somewhat crowded room.
"Nii-sama told me your eating utensils are like a cross between a fork and a spoon," the boy went on. "What do you call them, 'sporks'?"
Malik couldn't help smiling. "You funny…" he said in a rather broken dialect, as it was not his native tongue.
Mokuba grinned, displaying all of his perfect white teeth before turning back around in his chair at his brother's urging to continue with his breakfast.
Malik moved his attention from the younger brother to his older sibling. He had neither felt nor heard anything more when he looked at him, but having experienced the strange trance before with that girl, he was sure it had to mean something.
Out of the blue, Arthur and several helping hands placed a plate of cake on each table for each person.
"Forgive me…" Isis said. "We did not…request this…"
"It's on the house," the innkeeper smiled as he deposited two plates on the Kaiba brothers' table. "It's in celebration."
"Of?" Seto inquired, giving a nod for his brother to eat the cake.
"Yesterday we were freed from the tyranny of Bandit Keith and his gang," Arthur replied. "I had no time to really celebrate like the others, though there was a fair amount of people celebrating here last night, so I felt I should do this."
"How did you get rid of the bandits?" Mokuba asked.
At this, the whole room of people jumped in to explain.
"It was the help of a group of strangers," one man said.
"Two pale-haired sorcerers, a red-eyed boy and his two other companions…uh…"
"Two Slayers," another man went on. "A blond boy and his fiery-haired sister."
Malik started. "Fiery-haired…?"
"Aye!" The men laughed. "Never before had I seen hair such a vibrant red!"
"A face as pretty as that one, either!" Cheered another.
"Aye! A face like white porcelain," the first went on. "So gentle, but as strong as steel, says I!"
The amethyst-eyed youth recalled the girl he had crossed paths with in the hall, when he had experienced his first trance, and was sure she and the girl still being praised were one and the same.
"You said…girl and her brother were…Slayers…" Isis said. "What is…Slayer?"
"It's a person that combats and kills Deep dwelling creatures," Seto replied, drawing the woman's attention to him as he lifted his cup of coffee. 'Slayers originate in the Black Dragon Kingdom,' he thought as he brought his mug to his lips. 'What could they be doing all the way out here…?'
Isis looked back to Arthur. "And this girl…did battle with these robbers?"
The man nodded. "Yes."
The former priestess' eyes settled back on the table and narrowed slightly as she lapsed back into her mother language. "Barbaric…"
- - - -
Directly after their meal, the two princes went to their room where Mokuba promptly fell asleep.
Seto, meanwhile, kept watch over his little brother as he sat by the window reading one of the books they had brought with them. However, he continued to look up from the pages to gaze out the window at the steadily falling rain beyond the glass.
It had started to fall harder and fiercer than it had that morning, and he began to worry that it might be worse the next day if it didn't let up. Admittedly, he was not particularly concerned with his own comfort, but rather his brother's. Such a harsh storm would definitely be a tough opponent for the boy to face.
Seto turned his attention from the window to the door as the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs and stopping just in front of his door caught his attention. Instinctively, his hand went to his sword, but relaxed when the person knocked.
"Enter."
The door opened and in stepped Malik. For a time all the two did was stare at each other.
"Malik…" The desert youth searched his brain. "I…needs…speak with you." He bowed. "Beseech you…"
Seto closed the book and set it down on the table. "You're dialogue is horrid," he said. "When did you learn to speak our language?"
Malik shrugged. "Not long before…" he replied. "Just not good…"
The blue-eyed prince shrugged. "You have three minutes."
Considering his little time, Malik chose to cut right to the point. "When…eyes met…ago…this morning…" he said. "Felt something."
Seto's schooled features gave no hint of the surprise that shot through his brain. 'So it wasn't just me?' Out loud he said, "So what?"
"Did you…feel also?"
The prince was silent as he considered his answer. "If I did? What would you do?"
"Just…wants…know what is," Malik said.
"Your grasp of our language really is terrible," Seto said again with a hint of amusement the sandy-haired youth didn't appreciate.
"Yes o' no?" He asked.
"If it will get you to leave, no," the prince replied retrieving his book and opening it again.
Malik stared at the older boy's profile a moment before turning away and opening the door. It was there he stopped and looked back. "Lies…are unbecoming…"
And with that, he left, closing the door behind him.
- - - -
The cavern was dark and reeked of death. He coveted the feeling of the lost souls that filled the sealed air of the wretched place.
Walking through the tomb, his clawed hands brushed over the rotting bodies on either side of the path, until finally each hand caught the hair of a certain head and tore them from their rotting bodies.
Each dead face was contorted in horror as he carried them to the altar. There lay two separate jars, each with a faint black mist trailing out the mouths of the ceramic pieces.
He then dropped the heads into each jar, and the mist became thicker as moans filled the air. He uttered words of that same horrid language he had used to enter the Shrine and the cries of the tortured souls increased as he cut the palms of his hands with his own claws. He allowed no more than four drops of black blood to fall into each jar before clenching his hands again; when at last he opened them, his injuries were gone.
The room was filled with screams now as the black smoke filled every corner of the tomb, and ever so carefully, he pulled two of his white hairs from his head, dropping one into each jar. The smoke shot back into the jars and the room was clear again, until the ceramic shattered and two deformed lumps of hair fell to the ground.
And with that, Akunadin left the tomb to allow his creatures to grow and fester before they freed themselves to carry out the purpose of their birth.
- - - -
Malik snapped awake, sitting upright with a gasp. He hissed with pain as the mark on his back burned and he gripped over his shoulder to try and dull the pain. The feeling of his cool fingers seemed to calm whatever it was that made him burn and it slowly faded away, leaving him breathless.
However, despite the pain of his back, that had not been what shocked him awake. He tried to recall what his nightmare had been, but all he could remember through the blackness was the constant moans of pain and agony.
'How horrible…!'
He pushed aside his blankets and went to the window. It was still raining, though not as heavily as it had earlier that day. It was light enough for them to continue on their course.
From that ominous dream, he wanted them to be on their way quickly.
"Master Malik?" Rishid rose from his bed. "Is something the matter?"
The youth looked back to his foster brother and servant. "We leave at dawn."
- - - -
Seto walked down the stairs groggily, slowly following after Mokuba who watched him with concern.
"Nii-sama, daijoubou?"
"Hm…" The older prince replied. In truth his sleep the previous night had been fitful, filled with dark images and horrible sounds he couldn't recall clearly.
Making it down to the dining area, Seto and Mokuba took a table. The elder of the two looked around the room curiously as they waited to be served, until Arthur came to wait on them.
"Excuse me, where are those three people from yesterday?" He asked. "The desert natives."
"Oh, well…" The innkeeper thought a moment. "They left early this morning. Since the rain was letting up, I suppose they felt they could continue on their way."
"Hm…" Seto bridged his fingers together and leaned his chin on them as he looked out the window. The weather had fallen to a light drizzle, and he also agreed it would be better for them to get back on the road.
But more than that…
He had that feeling, resting heavy in the pit of his stomach that someone was after him. He had become accustomed to feeling this right before an assassination attempt on him or his brother.
'Someone's coming.'
- - - -
The two abominations grew, and with their size as did their hate.
Their hate for life; their hate for those who were content while they were not; their hate for the light.
But most of all…their hate for them.
We…hate them…!
Kill…! Kill them! KILL!
- - - -
Mokuba finished adjusting his saddlebags, and looked up just as his brother jerked and shot his gaze around the stable. He had noticed Seto's strangely jumpy behavior since they had gotten up this morning, but the worse it became, the more the black-haired boy was sure something was wrong.
"Nii-sama?"
Seto turned his blue gaze to his little brother before returning his attention to his horse. "Nani, Mokuba?"
"What's the matter?" The youngest of the three White Dragon Princes inquired. "You've been acting strange all morning."
The older of the two finished adjusting his horse's bit. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Something's been bothering me, that is all…"
Before Mokuba could ask further, Arthur came rushing into the stable, shaking what rain had managed to soak his hair while he held out a small bundle. "Forgive me, masters. But I was uncertain as to how long your journey would be before you reach another town. But I fixed this up for you nonetheless."
Seto took the bundle and stared at it curiously.
"Two sandwiches and a small cake to split between you," the innkeeper smiled. "Do take care on your way, this storm feels treacherous."
Seto nodded while Mokuba vocalized his gratitude as they mounted their horses and pulled up their hoods.
"Good luck to you on your festival day," Mokuba smiled and they rode out into the storm.
- - - -
Time wore on as they rode, eventually bringing them to the edge of a forest that seemed to cover even the mountains miles away.
Seto took the map from his pouch, brushing away the water that dripped from his hood into his eyes. "Durace Forest…" he read. "It covers most of the Pict Bridge Mountains and is totally riddled with ancient ruins, but if we cut through it we should make it to Dora in a little less than two days."
"Sounds good to me," Mokuba nodded.
"Yosh…" Seto folded the map and returned it to his pouch. "Iikou." He cracked Alumiss' reins, and Mokuba repeated the action with Valent and they shot into the forest.
Surprisingly, the further they went in to the forest, the harder the rain came down.
"I thought it was getting clearer," Mokuba said, trying to see the sky through the trees, but failing. "I wonder where this came from…"
Seto's cloak was becoming heavy with the amount of rain it was absorbing and he was certain his little brother was fairing no better. Pushing on a little further, they soon found themselves before a ruined building the forest was so well-known for.
"Mokuba!" He shouted to be heard over the falling rain. "We'll take shelter in there!"
"Okay!" The boy replied and followed his older brother into the ruins.
Once inside, they dismounted, tying their reins to some boulders and tore off their wet cloaks, draping them over the same rocks to let them dry out. "We're most likely stuck here until the storm lets up," Seto sighed. 'I do wonder where this all came from though…'
"Nii-sama!" Mokuba hissed, calling Seto's attention to where he crouched against a wall of fallen rock. "There's someone here!"
The older brother looked up to the ceiling, and while there was a large structured hole that allowed water to fall in and make something akin to a small lake, he also saw firelight shining against the stone.
Cautiously, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, Seto made his way around the fallen boulders. What he came upon was somewhat of a surprise.
It was none other than the Ishtars all sitting around a makeshift fire.
Noticing another presence, Isis looked up, followed by Malik and Rishid. "It appears we are all trapped by this rain…" she said.
"So it would seem," Seto replied. Without understanding why, he relaxed his grip on his weapon.
Mokuba came from around the rock and smiled when he caught sight of Malik. "Culture Shock!"
"Mokuba…"
The boy covered his mouth under his brother's gaze. "Gomen."
Malik smiled. "It is…well…?"
"Alright," Isis corrected.
"Alright?" Malik blinked before smiling again. "It is alright."
"Would you care…to join us?" Isis motioned to the large space across from her, between Rishid and her brother. "It will help to dry yourselves of the rain."
"Aa," Seto nodded to his brother and they took the offered place by the fire. The elder prince was careful not too look to his left, in order to avoid eye contact with Malik who sat on the other side of his brother.
"Crazy weather, huh?" Mokuba smiled as he wrung out his hair.
"It is indeed…insane…?" Malik looked to his sister who shrugged. He also shrugged and looked back to the boy beside him. "Is…very cold. I am…unused…to such…weather."
"Is it very hot in the desert, even in the winter?" Mokuba inquired.
"Winter?" Malik blinked.
"The cold time of the year," the boy explained.
The older, sandy-haired youth shook his head. "Have no…cold time of…year."
Mokuba shook his head of any excess water. "Hm. Weird,"
"Weeerd…" Malik repeated.
"Not 'weeerd,' 'weird,'" the black-haired boy said.
"Weeerd."
Isis smiled at her brother's gradual grasp of the new language, before she settled her dove-blue gaze upon the older of the two arrivals.
Mokuba brought out the prepared meal given to them from Arthur to split with his brother, and a halo of happy colors surrounded him. He was so happy to have someone do something for him out of the goodness of their heart. She found that a little odd, but smiled at his strange happiness.
Seto had a very complex aura; it was a very defensive, almost as if he were afraid of an attack from anywhere, but at the same time it was gentle, most likely toward his brother. She tried to search for the white that she had seen the previous day, but could find no trace of it.
"That's very rude."
The former priestess snapped out of her pensive state at the sound of the blue-eyed boy's voice. "Eh?"
"It's very rude to stare," he said again, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
Isis blinked at the statement, not sure what to say in reply, and simply looked at the popping fire.
Brushing it off, Seto returned to his meal.
Malik watched the blue-eyed youth out of the corner of his eye, wondering. Maybe he did experience the trance, but like the desert boy himself, Seto had no way of explaining it. At that thought, he sighed and looked away, concentrating all of his attention on the rain leaking in through the structured hole.
For a time, the only sound in the ruins was the steadily falling rain.
When all at once, both Seto and Malik felt a tremor and jumped to their feet.
"Doshitano—" Seto raised his hand to his brother in a motion for silence, to which Mokuba immediately complied.
The two youths' eyes shot all around the ruins, their sound of their rapidly beating hearts filling their ears almost to the point it hurt.
'Something's wrong… What is it?' They wondered. 'Who's there?'
Seto looked to Alumiss and Valent, finding them pulling at their reins and shaking around uneasily. Now the prince was sure something was wrong.
Malik gave a short outcry as pain shot through his back in the pattern carved into his skin and dropped to one knee at the burning intensity of it.
Rishid and Isis were at his side instantly.
"Malik!"
"Master Malik!"
The boy dug his nails into his shoulder as he ground his teeth, attempting to divert the pain to something else, but it remained as the patterned scar on his back.
"Malik, what is it?" His sister asked.
"My…my back is burning…!"
Isis moved behind him and lifted up the back of his shirt, gasping upon the sight of the patterned scar on her brother's back pulsing as the design turned black. "Rishid!"
The man jumped to attention.
"The sacred water in my bag! Bring it to me!"
As Rishid hurried to carry out the woman's order, Seto whirled around. "Shut up! No one move!"
Immediately, all of them froze in place and Malik bit into his hand to keep from crying out as the pulsing pain steadily increased.
Suddenly, Seto and Malik both looked up to the structured hole in the ceiling just as a dripping lump sealed it up, as it appeared to large to come in through it.
It was an enormous black monster, unlike any they had ever seen before and could hardly make it out. Tentacle-like appendages grew out from it and reached out toward the ground. When all it felt was rock and water, a large red eye opened from the black and focused on the group around the fire.
Images of blood and fire flooded Isis' thoughts and she screamed as she covered her ears in attempt to drown out the screams of horror and torment.
At the sound, the monster's tentacles shot out for the woman, but missed as Malik jumped up, grabbed his sister and rolled out of the way. Immediately, both he and Rishid took positions between Isis and the monster.
One of the tentacles, having missed the two siblings, landed in the fire and immediately erupted into flames. A horrible sound like a dying child flooded the ruins and they all had to cover their ears to avoid drowning in the monster's torment.
Seto quickly drew his sword and ran at the burning appendage. With a single stroke, he severed the tentacle from the monster, making it cry out again. He cut the other tentacle away and it dropped to the ground in lump as the rest drew back.
But it was a brief relief before Isis called out, making everyone turn. Another tentacle had come through the other entrance and around the pile of rock, wrapping around her limbs before pulling her out into the rain. The lump blocking the structure hole also moved, allowing rain to fall in once again
"ISIS!" Malik charged out into the storm, quickly followed by Rishid.
Seto turned to his brother. "Mokuba, stay here!" And with that, he too ran out into the rain.
Mokuba started after him, but stopped when he caught sight and smell of the burning tentacle. 'That smell…that smells like…'
He looked from the burned lump to the one his brother had cut off which lay on the ground only a short distance from him. Swallowing hard as he drew his sword, Mokuba approached the lump, nudging it with his foot before kneeling down to pick it up.
He was shocked when the lump rustled and fell apart in long black strands of… 'Hair!' He looked back to the burning lump of hair. "I was right! It was burning hair!"
- - - -
Outside, the others found the monster still atop the ruin and held Isis high above the ground as it wrapped more of itself around her.
"What the Hell—" Seto cut off as another tentacle shot out, splitting the three of them apart and caught his leg as he stumbled back in the mud. "Shit!"
He was swung up into the air as more wrapped around him making him drop his sword, but was more disgusted to find it felt like human hair rendering him immobile. He was brought close to where Isis was suspended and devised a plan.
"Hey!" He shouted over the pouring rain down to Malik and Rishid who looked up. "When I get your sister free, catch her!"
With that, he turned back to Isis, found he was near enough to the hair binding her and clapped his hands together before grabbing onto it. A flash of blue lightning and the place Seto had touched froze and broke off.
Malik and Rishid quickly responded to their sister's scream as she dropped and they both collapsed under her weight as she landed on them.
"Isis, are you alright?"
The woman gasped for air before answering. "That…that thing…!" She looked back up as Seto continued to fight his own restraints. "THAT THING IS HUMAN!"
- - -
- - -
Endo del Chapter Fifteen!
Don't worry, I'll work on Sixteen and hopefully have it up soon.
Me out.