A/N: Sorry for the long time no post! More will be coming soon-ish.
Thanks for the reviews so far.
Chapter 4: the demands
For a second Atem couldn't take it in. He tipped his head to the side, looking at the sorcerer with consternation. "Excuse me?" he snapped. "You mean to claim you're a deity? A deity working for the Nubians?"
Anubis' smile was full of teeth. "Correct, Your Highness. After all, I was left with no choice after I saw you – a pretender – on the throne."
Shock rippled through the Egyptian army, his people trying to hide their noises of surprise. Atem's fist clenched around his bow, Slifer shifting both her tail to better shield the army and her head to be closer to the bewildered monarch.
Atem looked up at the blue pyramid, his breathing uneven. This couldn't be real. This man couldn't really be a god. He licked his lips, his skin dry and salty with sweat. There was no way he was about to debate the veracity of this man's claims on the battlefield with Egyptian territory at stake, so all there was left to do now was cut to the chase. "I see. And what is it that you want?"
Anubis seemed to look past Atem to Slifer, then his focus narrowed in on the Puzzle. "You can give me three things to appease me. Your Puzzle. Your throne. And your life."
Now the horrified gasps were open from the Egyptian army, followed by confused heckling and yelling. The sacred court near immediately drew in from their positions on the flank of the army to get closer to Atem, and Atem finally snapped out of the slight shocked stupor he'd been in to see they'd pulled their ka in, too. They were all furious – teeth bared or weapons out, clearly charging up for an attack on Anubis, itching to answer this insult to their king.
Just as they'd been trained.
Atem switched focus to Anubis, panicked when he realised the god – the sorcerer – must have surely seen this coming, too.
He had. His grin had only gotten wider, more bloodthirsty.
If they gave him an excuse, Anubis would take it and run with it.
It would be a bloodbath. And if the Nubians had the strange blue pyramid to hide inside…
Atem felt his breathing coming quicker. His grip on his bow slackened, the tip of the arrow lowering. His arms drew in close to his body. Nausea was making itself known again, along with a desperate need to deny this was happening.
His priests would launch an attack. Anubis would answer it. No doubt Anubis would go for Atem himself, forcing the priests to defend him and get cut down in the process.
And Atem was going to -
Atem was going to -
Slifer pressed her head closer to him. Bumped his arm.
"Hold," Atem said.
The priests looked to him, shocked. Anubis smirked.
"If you are truly a god, you – you –" Atem bit his lip, floundering for what to say, "You would never shed Egyptian blood over this!"
Anubis tipped his head to the side, considering. The Nubian general noticed, racing forwards, but Anubis raised his own hand. "Hold," he said, not even bothering to look back at him. His eyes were on the Pharaoh now, looking him in the eye this time rather than Slifer. He seemed to be sizing Atem up, and Atem felt his skin burn with shame. The shock had completely blind sided him and now it felt far, far too late to recover his dignity. It helped not at all that Anubis – just like everyone he'd had the godforsaken luck of opposing – was far taller than him. He'd never felt more like a child wearing a king's costume than he did right then.
Just when the silence had stretched on a moment too long and Atem was convinced everything was about to descend into carnage, Anubis suddenly nodded. "True," he said.
"What?" the Nubian general snapped. Anubis raised a hand again, silencing him.
"You're quite right," he said. "Once I have my throne, the people will welcome me and your court will serve me." He began to pace casually back and forth. His hands were folded behind his back, but his movements still made the priests twitchy, all of them creeping even closer to Atem, which only made the monarch feel even more wretched. Anubis stopped, turned to look at them head on. "So I propose a deal: you have until tomorrow night to surrender your life to me, Pharaoh, and accept me as your successor – the new ruler of Egypt."
Another ripple of displeasure and discomfort ran across the Egyptian army, but the Nubian general quickly leant forward to interject.
"And our territories will be returned," the general said, looking displeased that Anubis was holding them back.
The priests were bristling again, looking to each other, and then to Atem. The Pharaoh tried to draw himself to his full height, but his usual strength of presence was completely failing him. He could only imagine how he looked to them.
"Well enough," Atem ground out. "If we withdraw until then, will you honour your promise and not compromise the villages near here?"
Anubis turned to the Nubian general, giving him a hard look. The man bristled, but he nodded. He stood forward, offering his hand. Atem stepped forward too, unable to help but glance up at Anubis as he did so. The god – sorcerer – was looking down his nose at Atem, but he made no move when Atem neared the Nubian general and took the man's hand in his own.
The minute he did, searing pain shot through Atem's hand. He schooled his expression but couldn't help but glance down, immediately zeroing in on the cause. The Nubian general was wearing a ring, but he'd turned the insignia to the inside, so it dug into Atem's skin when they clasped hands.
Behind him Slifer growled, bearing her fangs. The Nubian general risked holding on a second longer, Anubis' presence enough to lessen his fear of the Egyptian god sitting only feet away. The power Atem had relied on so readily slipped a little further into irrelevance, but he refused to give ground or indicate he was in pain.
Finally the Nubian general let go, leaving Atem to slink back to his own forces in shame. As his army retreated back to the encampment, he couldn't bring himself to look at his court or his generals.
He could feel blood trickling down his finger. Quickly he clenched his fist, determined to make sure no one noticed the new gash on his hand. Going by the look on Mahad's face, he hadn't entirely succeeded.
His court was wise enough not to say anything as they made their way back to the encampment. Most of them were trying their best to soothe the generals and the troops. Atem knew he should have been doing it – doubtless they would have appreciated the king reassure them personally, especially after something this disturbing had happened.
But he couldn't do it. It was taking all of his energy just to hold it together right now.
He made it back to his tent, giving the order for the army to stand by for the night and ordering the ka who could fly to fetch supplies to keep everyone at least well fed and watered for this night until the one after. It was understood without him having to speak that the court would follow him to his private tent to confer.
When they made it inside, it seemed the Sacred Court had also been doing their best to contain their fear as they fell immediately into panicked discussions. Atem let them speak, crossing to the other side of the room and sinking heavily into the small table and seat he'd had set up to illustrate a war map.
Mahad was watching him again, his brow furrowed. Atem could see he was worried and where before it had gotten under his skin to appear so weak before his friend, now he didn't have the energy to care. Everything was going towards just getting through this moment, and the next, and the one after that…
He leant back in his chair, shutting his eyes and rubbing his brow.
Tomorrow night. He could be dead in a day if he didn't get it together, figure out how to stop a god.
Worse, his people would be under the rule of...he didn't even know what to make of Anubis. If he really was a god, wasn't this for the better? Shouldn't his people have a ruler who could face down any challenge and overcome it? A ruler who could summon the sun into their lives?
And if his head was what the gods demanded…
"Pharaoh," Mahad said. It sounded more like a plea than a question.
Atem opened his eyes. He straightened up, folding his legs and leaning back in his chair, knitting his hands together on top of his knees to hide their shaking and the new cut to his palm. He looked them all in the eye, seeing his own disbelief and doubt reflected back at him.
And something else: fear. They were afraid for his life.
Atem had always striven to treat his court with respect, encouraging them to provide dissenting advice when he was reckless or foolish. When they could afford to get away with it, they'd acted more like friends, just as they had before he was crowned…
He couldn't let them down. He had to pull it together.
"All right," he said, taking a deep breath and squaring his shoulders. "Clearly we need to formulate a plan. But first – I need someone to send a message to Priest Seth...or rather, just have a ka fetch him to the front."
The group somehow seemed even more surprised about than than they were about Anubis. Mahad looked especially wary. "Are you sure you wish to do that, Pharaoh?"
"Yes," Atem said. He rose with a sigh. "I have no desire to reward his loose canon behaviour, but we may need all the firepower we can get on this one. And I intend for the court to protect our army as much as possible."
And not to mention, Atem thought to himself, Seth had contributed massively to getting them into this mess in the first place.
He could bloody well help them get out of it.
