EGYPT: 2498 BC

Chapter Seven

As ret mitu Xer - ten her hra-ten un - a suten

Behold ye men, damned ones, fall down upon your faces; I am King

"Princess…"

Yuugi awoke with a start to find himself alone on the wooden pallet where he didn't quite recall falling asleep the night before. In place of the King's body next to him, there was only a mound of disturbed linen. The table which had glittered so brightly with the jewellery he'd removed from the King's person was now only clean, polished wood. It was as if the whole thing had never happened and, if he were in a slightly less conspicuous room, Yuugi could have almost convinced himself it was all a strange and slightly disturbing dream. As it was, he sat up groggily, glancing about in mild confusion at the opulence that surrounded him. Was it a poor omen to wake up alone in your marriage bed?

"Your Lord King is at temple," a cool voice informed him from the doorway. The First Prophet stepped lightly into the room, delicate, priestly papyrus sandals scraping quietly against the stone. His tall form dwarfed even the decadence of the chamber and the piercing quality to his stare struck a note of alarm in the young prince's head. Something was amiss here, and in a moment he would know just what it was. He grabbed fiercely at his chest in sudden, mounting apprehension and felt… nothing.

The scarves were gone.

"How old are you exactly, young princess?" Seth took another scandalous step into the sleeping chamber, setting Yuugi off into an internal rant about the Kemet people's fearsome lack of scruples. "Your father assured us you were of a fertile age." Narrowed, kohl-lined eyes glared accusingly.

"I- ," Yuugi stuttered, squirming backward towards the wall and trying to sink into his bed linens. Who had removed his scarves? A servant coming to wash and dress him? The King? That didn't bear thinking about- he couldn't stomach the possibility it might all be over before he had a chance to begin- and he was now deathly afraid he'd failed after all.

Seth knelt at his bedside, dark eyes intense, the black eye-makeup only serving to enhance his naturally intimidating stare. The atmosphere changed for Yuugi as he tried to meet that stare, to silently defend himself even as Seth leaned so close that his senses filled with the heady smell of the precious oils in which the priest was anointed.

"His Majesty has taken more interest in you than in any of his other wives," the King's cousin said softly, glancing away. "I fear, though, Princess Yuugi, that it makes no difference. Does it."

Hanging his head, unsure what to say, Yuugi wished desperately that Seth would just expose him and get it over with. He prayed for a quick death. Let Althen grant him that one mercy… a trip to the Star Staircase without too much pain…

Seth nodded, rising to his feet again and taking the amulet around his neck between long fingers. He seemed to brood for a moment, considering the spotless floor as Yuugi stewed in private anguish. "Perhaps…" he began again, his serpentine voice not as frightening as it had once been. "Perhaps there is something to be gained here."

The Carni boy stared in wonder. Was he saying…?

With a shrug, the High Priest went on, "It is not for me to interfere, after all, when the gods have made their intention towards you clear." He met Yuugi's gaze again. He was not joking, he was not letting the little prince off the hook: he was deathly serious. "A dream came to me in the night and I only now understand its full interpretation."

Yuugi could only wait for more, watching in confusion.

Seth glowered down, business-like, "You are under the protection of Sekhmet, Destroyer of the Enemies of Ra. My lord Atem will discover what he must by the will of the goddess and in accordance with ma'at." He raised a hand in a curious sort of salute and then turned away, "My personal servants will attend your repose, Your Highness, and whenever you have any need. It shall be so. His Majesty will summon you to break your fast together with him when he returns from the Rising Ceremony and the Offerings."

Yuugi was frozen, still staring helplessly, "Thank you," he whispered, awed.

The First Prophet's head shook slowly from left to right, "I am but an instrument of the goddess. It is she you must thank, for without her intervention…" he allowed that thought to hang, disturbingly palpable, on the air between them before turning and leaving the room in three long strides.

"Thank you all the same…" he whispered as the servants entered to led him to bath.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Sweet-smelling, painted, bejewelled and wrapped in the simple linen sheath of a Kemet woman, Yuugi was led into a long dim hall, fiddling nervously with his Carni scarves and with his heart in his throat. The King sat in one of the elegant curved chairs unique to his country, sparse even in the palace because of the expense of wood. A line of servants laden down with platters stood to his left, looking ready to spring forward the moment they were required. There were no other chairs in the lofty expanse of the hall, instead Yuugi was escorted to a pile of linens and pillows to the right of the King, who was looking at him, consideration plain and unforgiving on his dark face.

The rooms in this country were all vast and imposing to Yuugi, sheltered in the small capital of a minor desert nation. Nothing about his new home seemed familiar but the feel of the sand beneath his sandalled feet and the smell of the scorching sun on the dry breeze. In the tempest of activity, the King was the eye of the storm; calm and cool in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. His presence, though always nerve-wracking, soothed the young prince in a way he couldn't quite comprehend. His dark ruby-brown eyes were stormy themselves, his brow slightly creased as he sat in silence, surrounded by opulence that didn't seem to affect him in the least. His own magnetism almost made Yuugi forget, was almost enough to prevent him from noticing or considering his situation. Almost… and he feared that nearness.

"Leave us," he commanded unexpectedly, breaking through the thick silence of the room and shattering Yuugi's pensive calmness. His eyes never left his wife's face as the servants scurried to obey him; setting trays down in front of Yuugi before backing out of the room with their eyes lowered and shoulders bowed.

The King's careful and unhurried scrutiny made Yuugi want to squirm, even as he gestured to the food and commanded him in the same voice that had scattered the slaves, "Eat."

Reaching hastily toward a platter to comply and feeling hopelessly awkward, Yuugi was suddenly stopped by the King's hand on his wrist. Swallowing thickly, he turned to stare up at him, all his terrifying and intimidating beauty restored to him after the surprising gentleness of the night before- had he changed his mind about the freedoms he had offered? Did he regret treating a foreigner with the same respect and consideration he would treat an Egyptian? Had the First Prophet told him the truth in spite of his words?

"Your Majesty?" Yuugi stared up into bottomless eyes. Eyes far too old to belong to such a young king. Earthy, ruby-brown eyes studying him in that damnably calm, measuring way- superior, but strangely kind. Strangely… sympathetic.

"You fear me, yet, wife." It was not a question. "Why?"

Yuugi fumbled for something to say, stuttering and mumbling, "I-I… y-you…"

He broke off, trailing his gaze away, unable to face what he thought he might see there if he were to look too long. The King was not aloof from him the way that he should have been, the way he expected to be treated by one who was revered and even worshipped by his own people. Yuugi could not face that possibility of emotion in his eyes; the silent question he had not asked; why did a wife disdain her husband so, when he had given so much to make her trust she would come to no harm?

He could not allow that question, he was in very real danger of being unable to answer.

His Majesty leaned back in his chair, drawing all Yuugi's attention back to him as he draped himself elegantly over his armrest, broad shoulders slumped against the back of the throne. For throne it was as long as this man was seated in it. His nemes headdress made his harsh eye-makeup look fiercer, his already foreign eyes more slanted as he narrowed them at the boy before him. "It must be attended to. It will begin now; you will give me my meal."

Yuugi allowed himself a moment of blissful confusion, pretending not to know quite what his lord was asking of him… but could not lie for longer than that all-too-brief moment. Swallowing again, feeling his stomach turn over and any appetite he had fading swiftly as Althen descending into the Underworld at dawn. Not more of this, not more intimacy in mundane tasks that deepened his shame with every second they lasted. He couldn't bare to include the King in his personal tragedy, could not bare to fathom what would happen when the god-king found out exactly who he really was….

He pushed all thoughts from his mind, clearing his head of everything except the task at hand. His king wanted his wife to feel close to him, comfortable with his touch. I would do anything in my power to please him- but he knows not for what he asks. A small sigh escaped the long-suffering prince, momeetre wistful than regretful, as he plucked a square of melon from an intricate arrangement of colourful fruits, the flesh carved cleanly out of the husk and sliced into bite-sized pieces before being put back for presentation. Effort wasted on both the King and his wife as neither could take eyes off each other long enough to appreciate that the fruit was even there.

He lifted the wet cube of flesh in his fingers, juice staining his hand and running down his wrist as he brought it to his king's mouth, proud that his trembling was almost unnoticeable. The King's lips passed over skin as he took the fruit, briefly enclosing tapered fingertips in the heat of his mouth and sending a shudder all through Yuugi to his toes and back, a shudder he didn't begin to understand- or want to. Two more pieces followed, each time his fingers resting longer against the king's overfull lips, his eyes locked on the fruit as it disappeared into his mouth.

As the boy reached for a fourth piece, head spinning with the dizzy light-headedness of drink and fingertips tingling; the king's hand rose to rest on the curve of his chin. Yuugi's eyes darted back to his and the pair sat motionless, staring at each other with some ineffable emotion passing between them, an understanding and a joint puzzlement. Eternity slid by as bronze-gold hand cupped alabaster jaw, slipping under the fine, almost transparent cloth of the Kemet veil and guiding the delicate face nearer and upward, tilting Yuugi's head so slowly, it was like a dream.

Lips met lips and parted. A dream… and he couldn't rouse. Couldn't quite recall why he should…

"Soft… nefer…" Yami's rich voice was a caress, his forehead resting against Yuugi's and his fathomless eyes drawing him in and drowning him. "What troubles you so, my little Carni princess?" His fingers curled into newly freed fair hair as he brushed the veil away and pulled in again for a longer, more potent kiss.

"So much is wrong…" Yuugi whispered, lost and confused, not understanding what was happening to him as his lips parted under the king's and the kiss deepened and went on and on. He couldn't stop the flood of emotions threatening to overwhelm him as his arms seemed to take on a life of their own, closing soundly around his husband's elegant golden neck… Could understand, perhaps a small part of it all when he suddenly realized his cheeks were soaked with tears even as he folded himself deeper and deeper into this embrace that never should have been.

"Your Majesty!" the voice came from far away, echoing through the haze of his mind, but not quite real enough to break the spell that had fallen over him.

"Majesty!" Louder this time and closer.

Yuugi broke away from the kiss and from the king's arms, throwing himself onto the floor and panting for breath. He stared in terror at the newcomer, millions of frightened possibilities rushing through his head; had he seen? Had Seth sent him to tell the king all about his deception and expose his true nature? Would he be punished for being so forward or…

The king was irritated, his somehow fiery calm more than a little intimidating. "Speak, if you have news that is of such value that it intrudes upon our one moment of distraction. Speak if you have cause or be gone and thank Ma'at for mercy that you live still to feel remorse for your impertinence."

The intruder fell upon his face on the floor, scrambling in the dust in his agitation. Yuugi, who had little experience with a real court could still readily tell this man was on no fool's errand.

"Your Majesty, He of the Sedge and the Bee, nefer netjer, have mercy on my transgression; for a force of arms thought to be two thousand deep comes from the west. They hold aloft the banners of Syret, King of Carni." He looked up, his dark Kemet eyes wide and fearful, begging the King not to blame the messenger for his message, "And Your Majesty… the first lines wear necromancer's robes."

The King's eyes flashed to Yuugi, deep and staring and accusing, as if it were Yuugi himself who had betrayed him. For a long moment he perused the dismay and the pleading on his bride's face, his own expression completely dispassionate- as if he had not embraced this person mere heartbeats before. Finally, he turned away, back to the still-kneeling messenger who had brought him the tidings.

"Kom! Prepare and bring the lions! We will go in flesh to meet this insolence. Syret has overstepped his limitations and crossed into the Black Land, he now dares to spit in the face of the goddess! We will restore ma'at, we will stomp out the beginnings of a war thought already ended." He turned on Yuugi savagely, subdued rage smouldering in his eyes, and grabbed him by the collar, shortly hauling him to his feet. "Our wife will accompany us."

The living Horus thundered toward the nearest doorway, bodyguards swarming about him like moths to a flame, scattering in shock as he turned back with a sweeping flourish of his arm. He pointed at Yuugi and the Carni prince fell back to his knees, more because of the sudden weakness of his muscles than out of subservience, though he would freely give that if it was all that was needed.

"Your father has done greater harm than he will ever comprehend, Yuugi of Carni!" that magnificent voice burst out with a power that sent all who heard to the floor, snivelling and submissive. The King grew larger, more beautiful, radiant, terrifying and consuming in that moment as he gathered his immense aura and rage and unleashed it with a brutal accuracy at his wife. "Know this, if you know nothing else in your short life on earth; I am the morning and the evening, I am the call that brings Ra's rays down upon the land. I am all that is and ever will be- no man can take from me and live. Fire shall rain from the Heavens on Syret of Carni! Do you understand!"

The shouted question left Yuugi lone and tiny in the dust, as insignificant as that sand upon which he stood. He could not stop the tears that ran down his cheeks, nor hide the fear that came from him in waves as his small body trembled in the wake of kingly wrath. Surely this was divine fire among men.

"I… understand, Your Majesty." He said miserably, hoping this was the correct response, knowing he could not take another outburst. "Forgive me my blood, Your Majesty… forgive me…." He let his face fall into the grit of the floor, keening with helplessness. He had failed. Failed to avert the war he had known would come- he was not surprised his father had become impatient before his plan could have a chance to work. Syret could not bare cunning, it took far too long and he preferred his gratification instant. No, he was not surprised- just… hopeless.

A hand fell on his shoulder. Yuugi looked up cautiously, half expecting the all too familiar sensation of a blow landing over his back.

It never came.

The King stood over him like one of the stone colossi at the city gates. Unmoving, his features serious and vaguely clouded. The hand shifted down, breezing over his skin to hook beneath his arm and pull him, again, to his feet. It was Yami with him now, not the Good God who ruled over Kemet with divine fire in his eyes; it was the man who had shared his bed without any expectations, merely to bring what happiness he could to an innately inferior, worthless little foreigner.

"You… you must not keep things from me," Yami's strong fingers dug painfully into Yuugi's biceps as he stared into his eyes. Desperately trying to convey something he was unwilling to voice. "I am not just a king, but king I am. You must never keep things from me."

Yuugi was silent under that piercing gaze, tears rolling unheeded and silent down his cheeks. "I'll tell you anything, but you won't forgive me."

His grip tightened and then loosed and Yami ran his fingers through his plaited hair, ornaments tinkling softly. He turned away. "Forgiveness comes from trust. Earn my trust, Carni woman and you will earn forgiveness. I… can't accept anything less. No matter what I might… wish…"

"Yami…"

He turned again in a fury of braids and a swirl of kilt and jewellery, his eyes were hard and the gentleness was gone. "We go, be merry on the journey, woman, for if you are found lacking, on the morrow you'll die."

Yuugi bowed his head. Yami, who had given him comfort, helped him, showed him kindness, embraced him and gave him freedom; he wanted to believe his judgement was sound and that his wife was not a part of this betrayal. That Yuugi was innocent of it all and genuinely thought himself merely a diplomatic bride. The King who wore the Double Crown knew he could not allow an enemy to survive and dwell in his inner circle. The King had decided that mercy would be weak, a mistake. Of course, the King in this man was the side he was forced to heed in all matters of consequence and he could not alter himself simply because something had been stirred in a heart that was always still before.

The situation was precarious and neither man was willing to let go of the other so soon after they had discovered something indefinable and powerful lay between them.

When Yuugi looked up, the King was gone and a handful of slaves stood by holding a case of jewels and cosmetics. Yuugi was to be redressed to meet his destiny and face his father's selfish desires, desires that may yet succeed in destroying not only his shameful youngest son, but the greatest king the greatest nation in the world had ever known.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

They met across an open desert plain, bare of any life but a few scrubs of plant that would probably survive through any conditions the world could deem to throw at them. The Kemet stood in a grand line, warriors at the ready with their copper swords drawn and roped lions voicing their descent that the procession had ceased without the least shedding of blood. The Carni were not so commanding a presence, a simple line of pikemen and a second behind of camels were all they presented to the oncoming enemy.

The King was approaching him from behind, resplendent in his double crown and linen so fine it was almost completely transparent, layered around his person and flowing down from his shoulders. Wrist braces of gold and a pectoral of twin lioness heads calling upon the protection of Sekhmet shimmered in the glare of the noonday sun. It shone brightest on a piece of gold larger than any other Yuugi had ever seen. Shaped like the pyramids he had seen and had been awed by, inverted as it rested serenely against the king's chest, the gold was unsettling. As if it were merely resting a moment, dormant by design rather than nature, ready to spring up at any moment.

On its side was the all-seeing eye. The Eye of Horus that would protect the King from any harm that might befall him… yet, that most powerful of emblems seemed out of place, twisted somehow into wrongness. Yuugi didn't know how he could ever hope to sense when a Kemet amulet was right, but he knew, deep within himself that this one was not. It was a new knot of dread deep in his stomach, growing whenever he felt the strange awareness of the thing… He wished his King was not the one wearing it.

"It is as we feared, you majesty," a voice announced to Yuugi's left as the King drew up beside him. He turned to see a wizened old man, clean as only a priest was, his shaven head turned to the distance, weakening eyes squinted as he tried to make out the Carni's movements.

"They have the necromancers." His majesty stared with him, his fingers twitching in agitation that only Yuugi was aware of. Close enough, as he was, to feel the movement next to him.

The old priest nodded sagely, "Dark power knows no limits, your grace, so long as evil lurks in men's hearts it can only grow stronger. What will we do knowing that they have given sanctuary to all that oppose us with a power that can do harm?" He reached tentatively toward the King's arm, then thought better of it and let his hand drop back to his side.

"The gods shall smite them for their insolence. None shall stand against the divine ruler entrusted with ma'at, so says the god. The creatures of the Underworld shall devour them and all their kin. Trust in Thoth, whom you serve, don't come to me with fears until you are man enough to face them." The King looked down at the priest in an odd kind of respectful contempt for a moment before his expression cleared and his hand rose to the inverted pyramid that set Yuugi so on edge.

"If Carni has become shrouded in Darkness, then she is lost."

Diplomatic negotiations were brief.

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

History Bites: nefer netjer means the 'good god' and is an Old Kingdom name for pharaoh. Pharaoh's divinity was a lot more clean cut in that period and he was grouped almost without distinction with the other gods.

Thoth is the patron god of scribes.

Ma'at is the goddess of truth, order and justice. Pharaoh's only real culpability is to the principal of ma'at, he must uphold order and drive out chaos. Failure to do so is really the only thing that can lead to his removal.

We all know what Ra is god of. Lol.

Sekhmet is a warrior/protective goddess, whose animal is the lion. Local to Memphis and especially tied to Pharaoh.

Nefer means god, or gods.

'He of the Sedge and Bee' is the throne name of the pharaoh. Not his 'son of Ra' or birth name.

Yami might randomly stop and start the royal we crap. It's deep and meaningful. Sometimes. If I decide it's too silly, it might disappear altogether.

I think this chapter sucks a bit. I will try to work on it again later. I just really wanted to get this up because it's been a while since I updated. My line breaks worked, though! Yayayayaya!

Ps Master Elora Dannan: yep. I swiped the quote from Labyrinth. Don't worry, I was going to credit Bowie for his endless genius after I use the quote in the story. By the way, I love your name. Are you crawling with Brownies? wink

Lucidscreamer: I'm part of my favourite C2! Thank-you!