Author's Note: Kittyuehana has written (with permission) a prequel for this story called "The Ties of Friendship". It's about the beginning of Yugi's strange friendship with Seto and the kidnapping incident mentioned back in chapter one. I urge you all to give it a read. Since this site tends to kill links in the text, I've added ToF to my favorite stories. You can find the link there or in my profile.

Chapter 17

Yami and Mahaad came rushing out of the darkness -- too late. Armed men surrounded them and herded them over to join Yugi and Mana. Mana sobbed as she flung herself into Mahaad's arms. Yami stopped beside Yugi, close enough that their shoulders touched, and glared at the men threatening them.

Yugi bumped him lightly with his elbow and hissed, "Don't do anything stupid!"

All Yami's attention seemed focused on Pegasus. "So you were my contact all along. Reneging on our deal? You said you'd exchange Sugoroku Mutou for the Millennium Necklace."

"Alas, plans change." Pegasus smirked. "New arrangements supersede the old. Flexibility is such an asset in these troubled modern times. Wouldn't you agree, Yugi-boy?"

"Where's my grandpa?" Yugi demanded, ignoring the verbal leer.

Pegasus motioned one of the guards, a hulking brute in a sweat-stained jalabiya and filthy turban, forward. "Come along with the nice man and I'll take you to him."

"Over my dead body!" Yami interposed himself between Yugi and the advancing guard. Yugi tugged frantically at the back of Yami's shirt, but Yami wouldn't budge.

"If that is your destiny," Pegasus drawled, "then, so be it."

"No!" Yugi threw his arms around Yami's waist and wrestled him back when Yami would have made a suicidal lunge at the gunman. "Don't hurt him! I'll go with you."

It took Mahaad's help to restrain Yami, but between the two of them, they managed. Yugi grabbed the front of Yami's shirt and yanked him down to whisper, "If you get yourself murdered, I'll kill you!"

"Yugi-- You can't do this!"

"I need to see my grandpa. I'll be okay. Just... Please, don't get killed."

Mahaad's firm grip on Yami's arms kept him from trying to follow as the guard led Yugi away.

--

They entered the tomb via a shaft cut straight down into the bedrock. One of the guards lowered them, one at a time, by rope. Of course, another guard had gone first, ensuring Yugi had no opportunity to escape. The shaft led into a small chamber from which a slanting passage descended at a sharp angle. The interior of the passageway was narrow and strewn with rubble, and the downward slope made walking difficult. Yugi stumbled over a chunk of rock and fell, catching himself on his hands and knees. A sharp sliver of stone sliced into his palm, right over the old knife scar there. He struggled to his feet and wiped the blood on the leg of his jeans.

Pegasus urged him onward. "Careful. I need you in one piece."

Oh, he's a piece of work, Seto's voice piped up without preamble. Where'd you dig him up?

Seto! Yugi clung to the familiar sarcasm like a lifeline. Oh, god... I wish you were here.

There was a long silence. For a moment, Yugi thought the connection had broken. Then...

...Me, too, Mutou.

Pegasus gave him a shove in the back, snapping the fragile thread of communication again, and forcing him into a small chamber barely large enough for the three of them. The guard held him by the arm while Pegasus used a knotted rope to ascend to a narrow shaft cut into the wall near the ceiling. The guard lifted Yugi; leaning down, Pegasus hauled him the rest of the way up and dragged him into the cramped passage.

"Thousands of years ago," Pegasus said, giving Yugi a push to get him started crawling along the tunnel, "enterprising tomb robbers laboriously chiseled this tunnel through the stone. Sadly for them, it was a dead end." A pistol had appeared in his hand; he waved it meaningfully at Yugi. "It serves our purposes nicely, however. Don't dally, Yugi. I'm sure your grandfather is anxious to see you."

The air in the tunnel was stale and hard to breathe, and the heat was oppressive. Yugi was panting by the time they came out into another chamber, this one about the size of a large walk-in closet. An opening in the floor, once concealed by a heavy stone that had been lifted aside, led down into another descending passage.

There were more twists and turns, a veritable maze of cramped passageways and hidden traps that Pegasus navigated with ease. Finally, Yugi tumbled out of the latest tunnel and into a large chamber hewn from the bedrock. He sat where he'd fallen, sucking the comparatively fresher air into his aching lungs, and was startled to realize it smelled of the spicy incense from his vision of Sugoroku on the River Horse. He looked around, desperate for some sign of his grandpa, and spotted a small brazier burning before a man-sized niche cut into the far wall. In the shadows of the niche, he could just glimpse the outlines of a human form -- the life-sized statue of a man.

"Yugi?"

He scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide, and flung himself at his grandpa as Sugoroku stepped out of the deep shadows pooling along the edges of the room. "Grandpa!"

Yugi's hug was fierce. He'd feared this moment would never come. Relief made him weak-kneed, even as he took in Sugoroku's gaunt and bedraggled appearance. "Are you okay?"

"What are you doing here, Yugi?" Sugoroku gripped his shoulders tightly. "It isn't safe for you to be here--"

"I knew you were in trouble. I had to come."

Sugoroku knew all about the psychic visions and dreams Yugi had experienced at unpredictable intervals since he was a child, so he didn't question that declaration. He pulled his grandson into another hug. "I wish you had stayed in Japan where it's safe, but I'm glad to see you."

"Such a touching reunion." Pegasus had put away the gun, confident the guard could handle any attempts at revolt. "It brings a tear to my eye." His smirk grew as he swept his hair back to reveal the hidden side of his face.

"The Millennium Eye." Sugoroku sounded resigned. "So you do have them all now."

"Oh, yes," Pegasus assured him. "All seven of the Millennium Items are here, in this chamber. Ring, Rod, Eye, Scale, Necklace, Key... and Puzzle."

He gestured to the altar that had been set up before the statue niche. A length of white linen draped over the oblong slab of stone. Atop it, six objects shone with the gleam of gold in the dim light of the lanterns set on either side. Pegasus strode to the altar and lifted one of the objects, a small golden box.

"The Millennium Puzzle." He turned to regard Yugi with a speculative gaze. "Dr. Mutou has been unable to solve it. However, I have high hopes for you, Yugi." He thrust the box into Yugi's hands. "After all, you'll have so much more incentive -- not only your life, but that of your grandfather... and dear Dr. Viridian."

"Leave them alone!"

"Of course," Pegasus purred. "Provided you solve the Puzzle for me. You'd better get started. I want it finished tonight."

"Tonight? That's impossible!" Sugoroku protested. "I've been working on the damned thing since you captured me, and I haven't been able to piece together more than a quarter of it."

"Your grandson has a reputation as a gaming genius. I'm sure he will have better luck."

"I'll try." Yugi's fingers clenched around the box tightly enough to make the scar on his palm throb.

"You had better succeed," Pegasus said. His flamboyant manner no longer hid the dangerous man underneath. His one remaining eye blazed with a mad zeal. "I'll leave you to your task, but I won't be gone long. I shall expect you to have the completed Puzzle waiting for me upon my return."

With that, he and the guard retreated through the secret passage, sealing it behind them. Yugi stared at the box in his hands, and felt his heart lurch. He didn't know if he could do this.

Don't you dare. Seto's mental voice was unforgiving. You're better than that, Mutou. You don't give up, remember? If you'd given up two years ago, Mokuba would be dead.

Yugi's head came up. He rubbed his scarred palm, remembering catching the knife that had been aimed at Mokuba. Seto was right. He could do this. He would do this.

Damn right you will. Don't forget -- If you don't get out of this mess and come home safely, Mokuba will be very upset with you.

Right. A faint smile tugged at Yugi's lips. I guess I'll have to solve the Puzzle. After all, I wouldn't want to upset... Mokuba.

He thought he heard a faint laugh before Seto's end of the link faded into silence.

"Yugi? Are you all right?" Sugoroku's voice pulled Yugi back to the chamber. He sighed.

"Yeah. Guess I should get started on this thing, huh?" He plopped down cross-legged and spilled the golden pieces of the Puzzle out in front of him on the stone floor. He glanced at Sugoroku as the older man eased down beside him. "Where are we, anyway?"

Sugoroku cast a look around. "The tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh."

Yugi shivered. So, he and Yami had been right; they'd found the fabled lost tomb. He'd been afraid of that. Of course, the huge granite sarcophagus in the center of the room was something of a giveaway. So were the walls, which he now saw were covered from floor to ceiling with brightly painted scenes of animal-headed gods and men (well, probably just one man, repeated over and over) in crowns. The wall of gold he'd seen in his vision was actually the pieces of the dismantled shrine that had once shielded the sarcophagus. They leaned against one wall of the chamber, sheets of beaten gold covered in hieroglyphic writing and pictures of the seven Millennium Items, each section taller than he was. If he craned his neck back, he could just make out the yellow five-pointed stars painted in rows across the ceiling.

"For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to find this place," Sugoroku mused, leaning back to rest against a heavy wooden chest that held provisions for the Pharaoh's afterlife. "And now that I've found it, I would rather be almost anywhere else."

So would Yugi -- Yami's arms would be about perfect. With a sigh, he picked up a couple of puzzle pieces and tried to fit them together. "What's so special about the Nameless Pharaoh, anyway? And why hasn't he got a name?"

"Oh, he has a name." Sugoroku gave a humorless laugh. He waved a hand at the walls of the burial chamber. "In fact, he has the usual five names of the royal titulary. It's just that every instance of his name outside of this tomb has been systematically erased from history."

"Why would they do that?" The first two pieces didn't fit, nor the second. Yugi chose a third and tried again. "I thought names were important to the ancient Egyptians."

"They were -- very important. Without his name, a person couldn't continue to exist in the afterlife. When the ancient Egyptians wanted to punish someone, one of the things they did was eradicate every mention of his name."

"So... The Nameless Pharaoh was a bad person? What did he do?"

"No. At least, I don't think so." Sugoroku watched Yugi fit two of the puzzle pieces together and reach for another. "It seems more likely it was a precaution against the very thing this cult is attempting. If the ancients had truly wanted to destroy the Pharaoh's spirit, they wouldn't have given him such an elaborate burial or preserved his names here. And they went to a great deal of trouble to bury him outside of the normal boundaries of the time. They wanted to make certain no one found his tomb."

Fingers still manipulating the puzzle, Yugi glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

"Judging from the few remaining textual references -- and from his burial goods -- the Nameless Pharaoh reigned at some time during the New Kingdom. Most royal burials during that period took place in the Valley of the Kings." Sugoroku looked around again. "I can only guess at the circumstances, of course, but they must have feared his tomb would be too easily found if he was buried in the customary place. But, here, in this desolate desert -- no one would have looked here. Not for a very long time, at least."

Yugi set another piece into place. His hands were moving almost automatically now, selecting pieces and turning them over to find the proper fit. "So, what was so special about him?"

"The Millennium Items." Sugoroku stroked a hand over his beard. It was looking a lot scragglier than usual. "They were said to be objects of great power. In the hands of the Pharaoh, they could heal -- or kill. Whoever controls them would have unthinkable power."

And Pegasus had them. Or would, when Yugi solved the Puzzle. He stared at the slowly forming shape in his hands. Should he do it? Was it right to let a madman have that kind of power? But, if he didn't, Pegasus would kill the others. He looked at his grandpa ... and thought of Yami and Mahaad, and even Mana. He couldn't let them all die.

You'll think of something, Seto's voice said in his mind. You always do.

Yugi hoped he was right. As the link went quiescent again, he added another piece to the Puzzle and wished he could control the strange psychic connection. As much as it heartened him to hear his friend's mental voice, Yugi would have given a lot to have it be Yami's instead.

Yami, he thought, projecting as hard as he knew how, please be all right...

--

Ignoring the gun the impatient guard jabbed into his ribs, Yami stopped and lifted his head. For just a second, he thought he'd heard Yugi call his name.

"Move." The guard jabbed harder, trying to force Yami back into motion.

"Where's Yugi?" Yami demanded, refusing to budge. "Where did that bastard take him?"

"What does it matter?" The guard leered darkly. "You'll never see him alive again."

Yami twisted, shoving the gun down and away, and kicked. Hard. Jabber went down with a cry of pain as Yami's boot shattered his knee. Before Yami could capitalize on the element of surprise, the second guard whipped the butt of his rifle into Yami's stomach. Unable to breathe and bent double from the pain, he collapsed on top of the first guard.

"Yami!" Mahaad was instantly beside him. His body shielding Yami from the second guard, Mahaad helped him to sit. "Slow breaths. Easy..." He leaned in to whisper, "Think with your head, not your heart. You cannot help him if you get yourself killed."

Reluctantly, Yami acknowledged that Mahaad was right. Besides, he could barely move, much less fight. At least he could breathe again. Moving stiffly, with Mahaad's help he got his feet under him and shuffled into the crude hut.

Once inside, Yami sank onto the only chair, wrapped his arms around his aching stomach, and concentrated on simply breathing for a while. Mahaad was a steadying presence at his back, one hand resting on Yami's shoulder. Finally, Yami straightened, pushing aside the pain with a supreme effort of will.

"Any..." He had to suck in a shallow breath and try again. "Any sign of Yugi?"

"Unfortunately, no." Mahaad left him to check on Mana, curled against the door. "We will find him -- and find a way out of this mess."

"Door locked?"

"Yes." Mahaad turned his head from where he'd been listening at the door. "Guards outside, too. I cannot tell how many."

"Peachy."

After reassuring Mana, Mahaad paced the confines of their prison, examining the dingy walls and furnishings. The walls were thick mudbrick, and windowless. Aside from Yami's chair, furniture was non-existent, and the straw mat on the floor didn't look promising as a weapon. By the time Mahaad had completed a single circuit of the small room, Yami had recovered sufficiently to join him by the door. Together, they studied the wooden panel with its lopsided hinges and loose doorknob. They exchanged grins.

"I think we can work with this--"

A sharp bang on the door interrupted him. The guard's coarse voice ordered them away from the door, then it swung sharply open to reveal the barrel of a rifle. "Get back!"

When they were all standing against the back wall in what felt uncomfortably to Yami like the classic "firing squad" position, Pegasus sauntered into the room. "Ah, gentlemen -- and lady. I trust you're finding the accommodations adequate to your needs?"

Mahaad made a pre-emptive grab and kept Yami from lunging at their captor. Pegasus waggled his finger at Yami. "Tsk, tsk, Dr. Viridian. Is that anyway to greet your host? And after I came all the way back to see how you were faring, too."

"What have you done with Yugi?" Yami demanded. He could tear free of Mahaad's grasp and wrap his hands around Pegasus' neck -- but the guard would shoot him before he got more than two steps, and that wouldn't help him rescue Yugi.

"I can assure you, Dr. Viridian, you will never find him on your own." Pegasus' mouth twisted in a smug expression that tested the limits of Yami's self-control. "Perhaps, if you are patient, I'll take you to him later. For now, it is best he remain… undistracted."

Something about the way Pegasus said it, made Yami's blood run cold. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Dear little Yugi is busy solving the Millennium Puzzle." The icy smirk broadened into a gleeful smile. "Once I have the completed Puzzle, I will possess all seven of the fabled Millennium Items -- and the power to make my dreams come true."

Keep him talking, Yami thought. Maybe he'll say something that will tell me where he's taken Yugi. "You really believe that nonsense? The Millennium Items are just artifacts, Pegasus. They can't grant wishes or give you power. That's just a legend."

"How narrow the borders of your mundane little world." Pegasus shook his head with mock sorrow. "Tell me, my dear doctor... Have you any idea where you are?"

"I left my GPS in my other pants."

"Mere yards from where we're standing lays an ancient tomb the likes of which modern archaeologists have never seen, a tomb that makes Tutankhamun's final resting place look like the paltry thing it is. But the real treasure is not the vast trove of golden objects and priceless artifacts buried with the occupant. No, the real worth of this tomb resides in the identity of the man laid to rest within it."

"And who would that be?" Yami asked, playing Pegasus' game and not caring if it made him appear a fool. Right now, the only thing he cared about was getting to Yugi.

"Why, the so-called Nameless Pharaoh, of course!" Pegasus' arms swept out in an extravagant gesture. "It was lost in antiquity or, should I say, deliberately hidden. But generations ago a powerful family discovered the lost tomb and all that was concealed within. For more than a thousand years, they have guarded the tomb, even burying their dead here. Now that the Millennium Items have all been recovered, the true power of this place will be unleashed at last."

"...You're insane."

"Am I? I prefer to think of it as 'cogitating outside the cardboard container'." Pegasus' cat-in-cream expression took on a nasty undertone. "Of course, to truly get what I want from the Items, I will have to offer them something in return."

Yami's blood turned to ice. "What?"

"Why...souls, of course." Pegasus threw his head back and laughed, the meager light sparkling off the golden orb in his eye socket. "Human souls!"

Still smiling, he turned, tossing an order to the guards as he passed through the doorway. "Bring them."

"No!" Mahaad threw himself in front of Mana, preventing the guard from grabbing her. As the two grappled, Yami lunged at the remaining guard. Taken by surprise, the man couldn't avoid the tackle, and Yami dispatched him with a sharp blow from the butt of his own gun.

The rifle gripped in his hands, Yami eased his head around the doorframe and peered outside. Predictably, Pegasus had disappeared again, and there was no one else in sight. He ducked back into the hut. Mahaad had taken care of his guard; the man was unconscious at the police lieutenant's feet.

"Let's get out of here," Yami grated, and darted outside. One arm protectively around Mana, Mahaad followed.

They stuck to the shadows, avoiding the few men they saw roaming the encampment. The men were all armed, and apparently alerted to their escape, as they were clearly looking for something as they circled the perimeter. Overheard conversation told the escapees that Yugi and Sugoroku were prisoners inside the tomb. Luckily, the search seemed to have pulled the sentries away from the shaft that served as the tomb's entrance.

"I'm going after Yugi," Yami said. "Stay here and guard the entrance so we don't run into any surprises on our way out."

"Be careful."

"You, too."

--

Yugi could tell his grandpa needed medical attention, and soon. The older man was dehydrated and hungry, his face worn with exhaustion. His captors had not been kind to Sugoroku, a fact that made Yugi increasingly angry. He fumbled a puzzle piece, sending it skittering across the stone floor. Biting his lip to hold back a curse, he crawled after it.

The piece had fetched up against the side of the red granite sarcophagus. Yugi retrieved the golden object, then got to his feet. This close, he could see the sides of the sarcophagus were carved with bas-relief depictions of the seven Items surrounded by presumably explanatory hieroglyphs. Looking up, he saw that the statue he'd spotted earlier was of a man wearing royal regalia. A replica of the Millennium Puzzle rested against his bare chest. Was this the Nameless Pharaoh himself? Yugi stepped closer, peering up at the delicately carved face. Even in the low light, that face was shockingly familiar.

"Yami!"

"What?" Sugoroku started awake and levered himself painfully off the floor. He limped over to stand beside Yugi. "What did you say?"

"The pharaoh... He looks like Yami!"

Sugoroku squinted at the statue's shadowed features. "Hmm. You're right. Funny, I never noticed that before."

Yugi stared at the face of his lover on the ancient statue. It wasn't merely a slight resemblance, either. Dressed in pharaonic gear, Yami would be a dead-ringer for the image. "Is this a statue of the Nameless Pharaoh?"

"That's him all right. His name was Atemhotep-meryamun Nebkheperu-re." Sugoroku laughed at the look on Yugi's face. "Yep, that's quite a mouthful. From some of the inscriptions, it seems he went by the personal name 'Atem'." He sighed. "It's the find of a lifetime. If only..."

"We're gonna get out of here, Grandpa. I promise."

Sugoroku visibly made the effort to appear more upbeat. "Yes, of course we are! I don't doubt it for a moment, m'boy."

"Right!" Yugi trudged back to where he'd left the Puzzle. It was almost finished. His grandpa had been amazed at Yugi's progress, but the Puzzle almost seemed to assemble itself in his hands. He picked it up and snapped another piece into place. Just like the gilded wooden replica around the statue's neck, the actual Puzzle was a pyramid shape with a central udjat on the front. He glanced at Sugoroku as the older man eased back down to the floor and leaned heavily against the wall.

"You're exhausted, Grandpa. Why don't you get some more sleep while I work on this?"

"Well... Maybe I will close my eyes. Just for a minute or two..." Before long, Sugoroku began snoring again.

Yugi shook his head fondly. His grandpa never acted his age, but sometimes it took its toll on him. Working quickly, Yugi placed the final few pieces of the Puzzle into their proper places. He held the completed Item and wondered what would happen to them now.

The sound of stone grinding on stone filled the quiet as the ancient mechanism controlling the burial chamber door activated. Was Pegasus coming back to claim his prize?

Determined not to give up without a fight, Yugi leaped to his feet and looked around for a weapon.