Got a late start this morning so this chapter is a little late ^^' Sorry about that. But here is the long awaited Chapter 3!

I am so happy with the reception to this story! I was so pleased with all the favs and follows, though I was hoping for more REVIEW it got over 85 views according to my Stats so i'm not complaining!

Dedications: I completely forgot but I wanted to dedicate this story as a SUPER late birthday gift to my lovely hikari and good friend Tay: her request was for a Knightshipping fic with a cross-dressing Yugi, which i was more than happy to comply, especially since I was already doing one anyway ^^ Great minds think alike (or in this case a yaoi loving uke and seme have the same guilty pleasure ;))

Also special thanks and love as always to Val for all her help with second opinions when i was questioning my ideas; especially for this chapter (woo! was this one a bitch!)

As always read, review, comment, critique and have fun! and enjoy the historical notes at the bottom! I assume everyone enjoys them since i haven't heard any complaints ^^

Chapter III: Hostage

"Ujalah!" The word was bellowed, harsh and angry, and the peace was shattered. Aggravated steps followed the sudden frightened fluttering of wings, and Yugi shot up, awakened by the frightened caws of dozens of screeching birds. He opened his eyes to the fury of swatting wings, raining black and white feathers. He shrieked and covered his face, the panicked feathered limbs nearly swatting his cheek. The flock relaxed and settled a few paces away, leaving Yugi alone with the interloper on the sand.

Apep and all devils! Yugi swallowed a curse. Why did they have to send him? He bit back an annoyed curse when the interloper approached in a heavy, goaded stomp—clearly just as annoyed as Yugi was, but far worse.

"Hem-netjer Siam," Yugi greeted with forced politeness, but his next words were drowned in false praise. "I am glad to see you well this rise."

Siam was unimpressed. He was a short man, stout and round and with a protruding middle that spiked disgustingly between the folds of his pleated robe and shenti. Like all the hem-netjer, he was hairless, with a priestly headdress covering his bald head, and he carried his superiority like a badge of honor—though only he saw it as such. Of all the hem-netjer, Divine and not alike, that flocked between the capital and Waset's Great House of Amun, Siam was the only one that Yugi hated.

"Why are you not assisting in the morning ritual?!" He demanded in a slurry tone, like Yugi's very existence was a bother.

Yugi's glare sharpened at the tone, firm and unafraid. "I am performing my morning duties. To the God Thoth. Or at least I was, before you frightened his messengers with your unneeded stomping." He gestured to the flock still perched several paces away with the casual annoyance of explaining common knowledge. "As I do every day when Amun is born again."

Siam's meaty hands balled into fists, the heavy wrinkles and protruding lips curving into a brutish snarl. "Amun is our primary concern," he snapped, more angered that Yugi had spoken back at all than by the actual words. "And you'd do well to remember it!" Having never recovered from his dismissal in the Per-A'Ah's service, Siam made it a habit of commanding every "lesser" hem-netjer and temple hand he found. Yugi was no exception.

With a cool shrug, Yugi replied in casual irritation. "I'm not a hem-netjer, to Amun or otherwise, and I have other duties to attend to when he rises."

A cruel smirk slit Siam's face. "Well then, perhaps if your… duties," he brushed off the word like it was dirt on his shenti, "are occupying too much of your time, perhaps I should speak to the Divine Servants of Amun. I'm certain they can find some lesser servant to lighten your burden."

"No!" Yugi said too quickly, and was on his feet in an instant. Siam's smile was awful with triumph, but Yugi ignored it. I'll be damned to Ammut's belly before I let them take this from me, he declared boldly in his mind. He wouldn't give Siam the satisfaction of seeing him relent.

"Perhaps if you hurry, the Divine Servants won't scold you for missing the morning rituals," Siam chortled, his pendulous belly bouncing.

"I doubt the Divine Servants even noticed my absence," Yugi bit back his disgust. "You seem to be enjoying the temple's sacrifices well enough." He stared at the man's belly and grinned when Siam grimaced. "Tell me, do all of the hem-netjer share so hearty in the God's spoils?"

Siam spun around and struck his meaty palm across Yugi's cheek. The shock, rather than the force behind it, sent Yugi spinning to the ground. He barely touched the sand when Siam's thick fingers clamped around his thin forearm like a vice made of thick sausages and dragged him up. "I thought the hem-netjer had beaten such insolence out of you by now," he snarled, twisting Yugi's arm at an awkward angle and dragged him towards the temple without mercy. "Insolent brat," the brute scolded in his true nature—mean and stupid. "Lounging around lazy and dirty in the sand, and playing with filthy birds… What would Isetemkheb say?"

A single, frozen instance was all took for Yugi's rage to possess him. Fury consumed his hands and flew like a rabid bird attacking Siam's face with its claws and furious screams. Shocked and terrified, Siam screeched, releasing Yugi's arm and retreated like the coward he was. It wasn't enough to watch him cower. Yugi had ignored the slap, ignored the stupid rambling, and could even ignore the bruising grip hurting his arm. But he could not ignore or forgive that. The way he had said it… like he had a claim to it. Like he had the right to speak it!

Yugi's hand shot forward and gripped the short man by the neck of his tunic. All smugness and superiority gone from Siam's face; instead, his eyes were wet, his mouth opened in voiceless plea, and his face scrunched in a groveling apology. He was a coward. A mean, stupid coward and he, least of all, had any claim to her name.

"Never," Yugi snarled dangerously low, "Say the name of Per-A'Ah Pinedjem's second Royal Wife in my presence again."

He dropped the man and fled to the hall, leaving Siam on the sand. He braced himself against Ramses' statue and gasped. His lungs constricted in shock, rage, and despair, and let himself sink to his knees. Amun's rays beat down heavily on his back, causing his skin to burn. Wanting nothing more than to retreat to the shadowed, relative safety of his room, he forced himself to stand and dragged his feet.

Inside, the House was cool but chilled, and slowly, he dragged himself deeper into the depths of the tomb—the sanctuary's location mapped in his heart. The last thing he needed was Siam complaining about his antics—again.

X

The Divine Servants of Amun, the highest order of hem-netjer, had already finished the sacred morning rituals by the time Yugi arrived. Lesser hem-netjer and House servants extinguished the flames, cleared away tools and incense, and dancers brushed past Yugi, silently carrying the tool of their trade. Neither had seen Yugi enter the chamber, but the wet slap of his bare feet on the granite betrayed him.

They spun from the altar and their formally-neutral expressions shifted into contrasts of each other.

"Ujalah," the female of the two purred with a curved smile. Short and round with a pudgy chest and the face of an aging girl, she looked nothing like a goddess. Standing on the dais, she stared down at Yugi, gleaming with the pride and mock authority her position commanded. "Good of you to join us. Pity the morning services are all concluded, but perhaps if you begin your vigils now, the Great God Amun will forgive you." Her voice was soft and playfully mocking, but with well-concealed wickedness.

Next to her, the Divine Servant wore a critical frown and hard eyes that betrayed no emotion. Though taller than Yugi, he was a short man with thick limbs and fragile hands, but his harsh, unreadable gaze and stern posture commanded respect and obedience. Yugi did not shrink away.

At one time, Yugi knew them as Menk and Maat, and he was their Yugi, but such familiarities had ceased long ago. They were no longer even Menkheperre and Maatkare anymore. No… now they were the Highest Divine Servant of Amun and God's Wife of Amun: Divine Adoratrice. Names they'd christened in the tradition of previous powers—though Yugi suspected their true purpose was to mimic the divine rite bestowed upon Per-A'Ahs that were denied from them. The hem-netjers of Amun had never been known for their humanity—at least, not the ones Yugi had met.

Menkheperre's—as Yugi knew the Divine Servant—scrutinizing gaze summed Yugi's disheveled attire and bare feet, and shook his head with disapproval. "You were sorely missed at worship this morning," he said without emotion, but his scowling eyes spoke volumes.

Yugi mimicked his neutral mask and tone. "Forgive me." It wasn't an apology. "I was doing my chores."

"You were shirking your duties again!" Divine Adoratrice Maatkare cut him off and shot forward, her hard blue eyes burning black as pitch. With all of Menkheperre's power and pride but none of his control, the woman expected obedience like the common folk expected Amun to rise each day. "And what," she snarled in disgust, glaring heatedly at the flimsy shenti he'd slept in, his sand-dusted knees and arms, dirty fingers, and hair matted with ibis feathers, "Do you mean by showing up ragged as a common peasant?"

Yugi was unfazed. "What did you expect, Divine Adoratrice? When you confiscated all my clothes and shoes but what I wear now?" His voice was a snap and full of sarcasm.

"Do not be ungrateful," Menkheperre chided, stepping down from the dais, commanding even without its additional height. "We provided you with new, more appropriate garments just last rise, did we not?" Though short in stature, his perfect posture and the fact he stood two hands taller than Yugi made him appear larger and thus more intimidating.

Only Yugi saw through the illusion.

"You should not have replaced them in the first place!" Fury laced his words and Yugi let all the rage and betrayal he'd felt bleed into his voice.

"You should feel honored!" Maatkare barked. The heavy beaded braids of her wig writhed about her face like corded ebony snakes and her eyes blazed like an uraeus about to spit fire. "Only we, the Great God's Divine Servants, are permitted to wear such finery!" she bragged—but in her voice, Yugi thought he heard a plea.

She'd given the same speech when Yugi had returned from a long day of scribing and found the sheep servants obediently stripping the room of his linen tunics and ox leather sandals, and replacing them with "proper" House of Life attire. You should feel honored, she'd chided when he'd complained—but unlike last night, she'd added a few words so low, it was almost a whisper. "Isetemkheb was."

Yugi blanched his face blank, and for a moment, Maatkare looked like she'd regretted the words. Then Yugi's expression hardened—lotus eyes sharpened to Nut blue slits, his jaw clenched until his mouth was a row of angry teeth, and his brows furrowed together in a single glaring line. "She was grateful!" His voice was dangerously low and laced with darkness—darkness, and venom, and barely concealed fury. "You dare speak of her!" His white knuckled hand shook, his shoulders a tense line. "She was wab Sekhmet—and Divine Singer of Amun. She healed countless lives and touched even more hearts—including Per-A'Ah Pinedjem's and Royal Wife Henuttawy's, and she devoted her life to Kemet and its entire people. You have no right to even speak her name! Not to me!" He couldn't stop himself from shaking if he wanted to.

"We loved her too, Ujalah!" Maatkare shot forward and grabbed Yugi's arm. "Why do you think you are here? Why do you think you are trained as wab Mut-Sekhmet? Why do you think we kept you safe when the others fled to Djanet?!" she raged and pleaded.

"Let go of me!" Yugi demanded, pulling on his arm but she clung tightly to him with desperate nails, leaving crescent indents in the pale flesh. "Why do you think we make these decisions for you? It's to keep you safe! Because we loved her, and we love you! Do you not understand that?!"

"That's a lie!" Yugi snapped and wrenched at his arm, but her grip was tight and desperate.

"Listen to her, Ujalah." Menkheperre marched forward.

"No!" He poured all his strength and grief into his arm, and wrenched himself free. The force took Maatkare by surprise and she whirled forward, barely catching herself. Menkheperre caught her and glowered at Yugi who backed away, his glare blazing with harsh rage.

"That is enough!" He growled the command, his composure finally giving way to frustration. "You will do as you are told, Ujalah. We know what's best for you."

"What's best for me!?" Yugi cut him off with an incredulous laugh and burlesque respect, halfway between shock and sarcasm. "Is that what you call confining me to my rooms, forcing me to do scribe work and hem-netjer chores, forbidding me from seeing my mother's sacred House, and separating me from Pas and Mut?!" His eyes stung with unshed tears, but he willed them not to fall.

"And you think Pasebakhaenniut and Mutnedjmet will be different?" Menkheperre shot in a rhetoric laugh, his face contorting with betrayed rage and the fury of powerless love. "You think he will become Per-A'Ah and come back for you? Like he promised?" He spat the word like it was a foul-tasting poison. "You think the arrogant fool will honor his promises? Like Amenemnisu honored my ruling when he pardoned the rebels I stopped?" He stomped towards Yugi, who took a cautious step back.

"No, Ujalah, we cannot count on the Per-A'Ah to help us," he said, soft and serious. "We cannot rely on Kings and dynasties. We have stayed hidden and suffered in their shadows for too long. It's time for us to act." The ferocity in his eyes and voice bordered madness. Yugi shivered and retreated until his back hit the wall, and Menkheperre towered menacingly over him. He snatched a hand forward and grabbed Yugi's shoulder in a sharp tug and forced him to look at him. His eyes blazed with mad promises. A smile slit his face and his tongue licked his upper lip, staring like Yugi was a prized beast he'd succeeded in trapping—and couldn't wait to show off.

"Don't you see, Yugi?" Maatkare appeared at his side, her voice dangerously soft. "Once we choose the new Per-A'Ah, we'll be free. You will have everything. We can give you anything." Her promises were enthralling whispers, temptations of granted wishes and fulfilled dreams—for a price that would cost more than his soul. "All you have to do is obey us. Trust us, and never question us again."

"Trust us, Ujalah," Menkheperre echoed, concluding. "At best, you'd only be their servant."

They spoke in twisted tones, clipped with manipulated care and the softness of a hard master, telling him to be a "good boy"—and if he was, he wouldn't be beaten. Their victorious faces mocked him. They smiled at his silence—his fear.

Pouring all his courage, all his will, all his grief and rage and might into his next movement, Yugi wrenched his arm free with a shrieking, "No!"

The refusal echoed off the limestone walls, bouncing like the screech of thousands of scared birds taking to wing—and the force behind it was so strong, it sent both Servant and Adoratrice whirling back in shock. Yugi didn't know how he reached the door, but with one final look, he let all his anguish bleed into his voice. "I'd rather be Pas and Mut's slave than your prize!"

He whirled around, leaving the shocked pair behind—but it wasn't the words that made them shake. He had said 'Pas and Mut'. It was a common mistake among close comrades and relations to forget titled and full names in public and private in favor of warmer familiarities. They'd done it all the time in their father's presence, but he never made a notion of it. Only from Yugi did it have the power to cut.

And now we see why Yugi hates his life in the House of Life of Amun. I hope you all liked Menkheperre and Maatkare—they're loosely based on the historical Menkheperre and Maatkare (I wonder if that makes them OCs?) XD I did a lot of research to make them accurate, even physical appearances, granted I don't know if they were necessarily as arrogant ad I made them, but I did a lot of research and tried to create characters based on the situation around them, so I hope i pulled it off.

Glossary (I swear everytime I think I got it I miss something)

Per-A'Ah - Coptic, literally "The Great House", the title used for the King of Kemet a.k.a. Ancient Egypt, however, it was not used until the New Kingdom; the Greek version of the word is Pharaoh.

Great Royal Wife - Since there is no word for Queen in the Coptic language, the official title of Queen was Great Royal Wife; signaling the woman's status as wife of the Pharaoh (and thus, wife of a God), in Egypt, even if the King has many wives, the title 'Royal Wife' was given to those with power and influence, but there was only one Great Royal Wife—who was usually mother of the King's Heir and acted as Queen Regent. As of the New Kingdom, the title also included God's Wife of Amun and the Royal Wife acted as Head of religious and political power.

Waset - Coptic name for Thebes, (modern Cairo) Royal capital until the Third Intermediate Period when it was shifted to Djanet (modern Tanis)

Apep - (Yugi used him in a curse so i figured I'd add it) The enemy of Ra, and the Kemetic Orthadox (Ancient Egyptian faith) equivalent of the devil. He is the serpent, whale, or water creature (water snakes in Egypt were associated with him because they were more dangerous and poisonous than land snakes and didn't eat rats) that lived in the primal waters of chaos and sought to restore the world to nothingness. He lived in the Underworld and each night attacked Ra's boat to try and swallow him but he was always defeated by Seth (contradictory to popular belief, Seth was highly though of and was actually made into the Chief God during the 19th Dynasty. It wasn't until the Greeks started associating the Egyptian Gods with their own that he was seen in a negative light)

House of Life - the Ancient Egyptian name for Temples to the Gods, usually simplified as "The House" (there was no word for temple, again that was a Greek association); The House of Life of Amun contains two main parts: the Precinct of Amun where most of the temples and additions were made, and the House of Mut or Mut-Sekhmet which is located through the south gate down an Avenue of Sphinxes. Unlike Amun's temple, it contains only one temple housing a Statue of Mut that is believed to invoke her Ka, and an enormous crescent-shaped sacred lake. Her temple also houses dozens of Sekhmet statues, because Sekhmet and Mut became associated as other halves of the other during the New Kingdom.

Divine Servant of Amun - the title associated with the High Priest of Amun's House of Life; and referred to the hem-netjer with the highest standing; other titles were First Prophet of Amun and hem netjer en tepy; Menkheperre, son of Pinedjem I, held this office until he swore loyalty to Psusennes I

Divine Adoratrice - second title created for the High Priestess of Amun, and the second highest rank for a woman in the priesthood, second only to the title God's Wife of Amun (which was usually given to the Great Royal wife); the office was important because she was in charge of anointing (crowning) the next Pharaoh, and was usually a daughter of the current Pharaoh taken on as a successor to the current one; title reach its peak of power during the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period. Sometimes coupled with title God's Wife of Amun; Maatkare, daughter of Pinedjem I, held both titles.

God's Wife of Amun - title for the highest ranking priestess of Amun and later given to the Great Royal Wife during the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate period when Amun's cult was at its peak, where it reached full religious and political power. The office was for the King's Daughter, who was to remain an unmarried virgin in order to remain in Royal succession and would adopt a daughter of the King to succeed her. This practice was transferred to the Divine Adoratrice, and the position of God's Wife was then given to the Great Royal Wife to symbolize her status and power, both political and religious as second to the Per-A'Ah. Maatkare held this title until it was lost of Mutnedjmet, wife of Psusennes I

X x X

Grammar Knight's Note/s:

Ammut – also spelled Ammit or Ahemait; was a female demon in ancient Egyptian religion with a body that was part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile—the three largest "man-eating" animals known to ancient Egyptians. Her titles included "Devourer of the Dead", "Eater of Hearts", and "Great of Death"

Uraeus - the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra that spits fire onto their enemies

X x X

Historical Note: As i mentioned before, Egypt was split during this time, hence why it was called the Third Intermediate period, but before Psusennes was official Pharaoh of all, by Neferkare Amenemnisu. Now his reign was short, so there isn't much on him, but the one thing that stood out was during his reign he pardoned the leaders of a rebellion against the High Priest's authority during the 25th year of his predecessor's reign. Now some sources say it was Menkheperre who pardoned the rebel leaders, other say he was the one who stopped the rebellion and Amenemnisu was the one who pardoned the leaders (they'd previously been exiled), more sources went with Amenemnisu being the pardoner so for the sake of this story i went with that and it gave him a reason to not trust the Pharaohs.

Man that's a lot of notes ^^' but you guys know me and my need for historical accuracy!

As always read, review, reply, comment critique ask questions and go nuts! i love researching for this story cause everything seems to fall right into place!

Next Time: Timaeus learns the true reason Dartz requested him for this mission and Yugi contemplates his future, and makes an important decision.