A/N: I'm back! Sorry the next chapter for this fic took so long to produce – I was partly busy, partly ill, but I was also suffering some writer's block, which doesn't usually happen to me with fanfic. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter, please R & R!
Chapter 3: the battle
Their little camp was closely protected by guards and their ka, but Atem didn't get much sleep either way. He was too keyed up thinking about the troops marching inexorably towards their borders to do anything other than toss and turn. It took some time before he could pin down the source of his unease. It was more than just his argument with Seth, the oncoming war and his inability to summon Ra.
This was his first major military engagement. His first time out on the field as the commander of the greatest army in the world.
He'd read tons of military theory, he'd committed body and mind to training himself into the perfect weapon for an occasion just like this.
But he was, as yet, untested as a warrior-king.
He needed tomorrow to go off without a hitch, no mistakes and no problems.
He tried to reason his way out of his nerves, but of course nothing was working. Fear wasn't an emotion that responded well to logic, after all.
Atem froze up, but he couldn't ignore the thought once he'd had it.
He was afraid.
He rolled onto his side and curled up.
He shut his eyes and gave in to the fear, if only for the moment.
And he prayed to Ra to come to his aid. Not for him, but for his people.
Sunlight pressed against the back of Atem's eyelids and he cracked them open with a groan. He must have drifted off but he knew he'd only really been catnapping. Not the best frame of mind to be going into a battle with, but there was nothing that could be done about it now…
Atem sat up and was surprised when a wave of nausea overcame him. He took a moment to try and steady himself, sneaking out of his tent to go find some water before he got ready for the day. Osiris looked up expectantly as he passed but she didn't press him when he was too distracted to greet her. He found a small pool and splashed his face a few times, taking a deep breath. His stomach was still upside down, even as he tried to take a deep breath and calm his nerves.
Come on, he told himself.
He felt Osiris approaching him without having to look. She raised her tail and patted him on the back, trying to soothe him. But Atem brushed her off and headed back to his tent.
He had a battle to prepare for.
Atem grabbed his bow and arrow and hid a dagger in his belt. He slid his crown into place and squared his shoulders. He could hear the troops gathering outside.
It was time.
Atem left his tent, walking past the guards bowing to him towards his priests. He nodded to them and together they walked out of the town towards the plains, where the approaching shadows of the Nubian troops were. Atem looked back, noticing some of his people were watching from a distance. He'd ordered his guards to evacuate them to safer ground, at least until the battle was over, but it looked like some of them were resisting being moved. Some were staring up at Osiris hovering above, a clear look of awe on their faces.
Then they looked down at him, noticed the crown. Smiled.
Atem smiled back, trying to look reassuring.
"Pharaoh, they're approaching," Mahad said softly.
Atem turned back around, looking up at Osiris. She sensed his thoughts and came into land, Atem walking up to her and raising his hand to run along her side, making sure everyone watching knew that the great creature was a part of him. Then he turned, looking out onto the Nubian troops gathered there. For a long silent moment, the two armies stood facing one another.
Atem nodded to his court and walked out towards the Nubians, Osiris keeping close to him to protect him from any unexpected attacks. The Nubians exchanged glances among themselves and sent their own general out to meet him.
Atem stopped, leaving plenty of space between them. He studied the first line of Nubian soldiers. Just like his people, they too were staring fixedly at Osiris. But instead of awe, he saw complete fear in their eyes. Everyone gathered knew full well that they couldn't survive an attack from his Egyptian God, and it was likely only their obligation to their generals that kept them there.
"Last chance to turn back," Atem said to the general, and then, directing his voice to the Nubian army, he added, "I have no desire to harm any of you. Desert your general now and we can maintain our borders, and the peace between nations can continue."
A ripple of surprise ran down the first rank of the Nubian troops. The general regarded him coldly.
"Stand your ground!" he ordered, not turning to face his men. "And know that we offer the same to the Pharaoh – secede these territories to us now and you can take your army home in one piece."
"These are my people," Atem said heatedly. "I would sooner die than allow you to harm a single one of them."
The general looked suddenly strangely superior. He regarded Osiris not with fear, but with a predatory hungriness. "That can be arranged," he said softly. Then he turned on heel and marched back to his troops, yelling, "ARCHERS – READY!"
Atem turned too, quickly signalling to his own troops to get ready and mounting Osiris. As planned the day before, he would get this battle started with a bang and make a decisive strike against the Nubians. "Lightning strike!" he yelled, and Osiris charged up the attack and blasted the ground with her power in order to get the two of them airborne.
She followed up with a massive flap of her wings to push back anyone nearby and propel herself upwards and away from the Nubian troops, narrowly avoiding a volley of arrows. Both sides roared and Atem steered Osiris to push herself even higher into the air, charging up a thunder force to blast the Nubian cavalry.
At close range, the Nubians would be incinerated and the line would be broken so that the Egyptian troops could stream through.
Atem grit his teeth, telling himself he had to do this. He couldn't back down now.
"Fire!" he yelled. Osiris opened her jaws wide and blasted a line of blinding light right across the Nubian army. The priests saw the opening Atem had created and their ka rushed through it, outflanking the enemy troops and picking them off from there while their hosts used magic to attack from the front.
Atem directed Osiris along the battlefield, peppering the remaining archers with magic attacks of his own while Osiris built another large attack in her jaws.
"Osiris, lightning strike there next!" Atem cried. She saw where he was pointing and twisted in mid air, avoiding the stray shots of a few remaining archers as the thunder force charged to full power.
Atem grit his teeth, trying to ignore the pounding of his heart. With this next shot they would hit the main body of the Nubian army, and from there it should be easy for his troops to pick apart their ruined formation.
"All right," he said. "FIRE!"
Another bright burning light burst from Osiris' jaws and in that moment, Atem's heart lifted. The Nubian soldiers below didn't stand a chance, but at least this battle could be over quickly and their generals would know better than to intimidate-
Osiris' attack stopped, slammed up against something. Atem stared on in disbelief as the lightning was blocked and dispersed against a strange, translucent blue surface. When the smoke cleared he saw a strange blue pyramid-like shield surrounding the remaining Nubian troops – and a man with strange long blonde hair and black clothes walking out in front of them all. The Egyptians troops were still engaged in fighting the Nubians where Atem had broken the line, but his court and some of the troops had noticed that something had just gone badly, badly wrong.
And to compound that sinking feeling the Nubians were pulling back, withdrawing their remaining men back behind the strange blue forcefield. Atem urged Osiris to land before his own army and yelled to the rest, "Fall back!", making sure his court were noticing what he was doing so they could relay the order as well.
The two armies drew back – the Nubians stood behind this mysterious new stranger, the Egyptians behind Atem and Osiris.
Atem took his bow off his shoulders, keeping one arrow loaded as he approached the strange man, his bewilderment giving way to fury.
The stranger watched him approach with a neutral expression on his face. If anything, he looked almost curious.
"Pharaoh," he said. "So we finally meet."
"Who are you?" Atem demanded. "I never heard tell of a sorcerer on Nubian lands."
The man chuckled, which only incensed Atem further.
"What?" he said. "What's so funny?"
"Your Highness, I'm not a sorcerer," he said. "I'm a god – the Egyptian god of the dead, Anubis."
