Chapter 3: Trouble in Paradise

Priestess Isis shivered slightly as she pushed the door to the Pharaoh's bedchamber open. A contrast to the otherwise spotless and sparkling floor, right in front of the High Priestess lay a pair of broken women. Two of Atemu's harem, laying on top of each other, sullied the floor with blood from the cruel wounds all over their bodies. Both had been whipped to within an inch of their lives, a skill Pharaoh Atemu had learned over the years at the cost of dozens of slaves he pushed too far. She knew that they had probably been forced to whip each other. Forced to beg to be whipped more. Forced to submit entirely to the Pharaoh's will, to become subhuman, to become nothing but shells of women who were only vehicles to entertain the Pharaoh.

The first was a small, pale woman from a distant land, but the second particularly struck Isis for looking very much liks Isis herself ten years ago. Perhaps not shockingly so, there was no shortage of Egyptian woman who looked like her. But as she slowly looked up toward Isis with big, puffy eyes, tear-streaked cheeks, and sweat matted hair, Isis couldn't help but see herself in her. She was doubtlessly an Egyptian, yet Atemu brutalized her for his entertainment all the same. Isis thought for a moment on her childhood. Daughter to an obscenely wealthy diamond miner and a world-renowned theater actress. Rubbing elbows with nobility and royalty at every opportunity. The discovery of great magical potential at the uncommonly young age of five. Idealized training in priest arts from the very best since then. What if she had been born to a bricklayer or petty thief? What if nobody had known who she was growing up and her potential had never been found? Nothing but a beautiful face and flawless body that caught the eye of the Pharaoh. Would she have been the one on the floor, barely alive right now?

She shook off the thought, stepping into the room and ignoring the two whimpering girls. Atemu looked up from the bed lazily, five other women on the bed, curled up nude around him.

Isis blushed a hard red, standing at attention and attempting to maintain her composure even as Atemu waved with his far hand at her.

"Typically, one knocks at a door when they want to make sure the other person is decent before coming in, Pharaoh." Isis said, clasping her hands behind her back.

Atemu looked around the room slowly, then back at Isis. "I'm not entirely sure I'll be decent for a good few hours." He replied. "I can only assume this is important?"

Isis fought the urge to roll her eyes as the haremgirl on Atemu's left started to lightly rub Atemu's forehead with her fingers. "Yes. A most troubling development. Just minutes ago one of the largest banks in Egypt was robbed, the first in decades. Millions of debens were stolen inspite of the breast-best attempts of the authorities." She went another shade of red, trying her very best to look at the Pharaoh and not at the five concubines surrounding him, impossible though that may be.

Atemu shrugged. "Were they insured?" He asked stupidly.

"Ye-yes!" She said, slightly more irately than she should given who she was speaking to. "Pharaoh, this was the first bank robbery that even got as far as the vault in over three decades!"

"How'd it happen?" Atemu asked, as the other women began to stir.

"There's an officer in the throne room, ready to give you all the information and particulars." She nodded. "At your earliest convienence, Pharaoh."

Atemu opened his mouth to reply, but instead glanced down towards the foot of the bed. Two of the girls had slid down his body and started to give him foot massages. Atemu looked down at them, smiling.

Isis grunted, not budging, staring at Atemu. The Pharaoh, however, was sufficiently distracted as the one on his right foot seductively put his little toe in her mouth.

"You girls have such skilled mouths." He said slyly. "We must do this more often. Especially that thing where you-"

"Pharaoh!" Isis blurted out, drawing looks from all six people on the bed. "Please!" She exclaimed, eyes closed in frustration.

"Alright, alright." He said reluctantly, pulling his feet away from the two girls even as they groaned disappointedly. Isis quickly left the room before he could come out from under the blanket and further embarrass her.

A few minutes later, the Pharaoh emerged wearing a white silk shirt and purple cape with golden shorts and brown slippers. Isis nodded, refusing to let any emotion cross her face as she turned around and led him through the Pharaoh's office.

"Thank you for understanding that this is a serious matter with severe implications, mighty Pharaoh." Isis said flatly.

"You are so mean." Atemu said unevenly. "Why are you so mean?"

They came to the threshold leading back out into the hallway. Isis stopped and turned around to face the still awakening Pharaoh. "I apologize for...being mean." She finally settled on, still letting no emotion cross her face.

Atemu laughed. "What? Are you scared? Do you think I'm going to flog you? Break your fingers? Stick you in the brazen bull?"

Isis stared blankly for a few seconds before turning back around and walking out of the room, Atemu on her heels. As soon as he emerged, he glanced at the door right across from his, then back at Isis. Smirking, he strided over to the door and quietly pushed it open. Isis spun on her slippers and glared hard at Atemu.

"Pharaoh!" She hissed. "We have an officer waiting!"

Atemu shrugged. "Get him something to eat!" He turned back around and quietly ran across the carpeted floor towards the massive bed in the far corner.

He nimbly crept onto the bed towards the distinctive lump on the near side, the head of Queen Teana poking out at the top resting on a satin red pillow. Atemu placed his hands on either side of her head and his knees on either side at her hips. He bent his head down and kissed her on the forehead. She stirred as Atemu pulled up, then went back down to kiss her nose. She murmured, pulling her arms upwards out from under the blanket.

"Whaimeit." She mumbled as her arms reached up to wrap around Atemu's head.

"Uh-oh. Someone needs a wakeup." Atemu teased, grabbing the edge of the blanket by her head and pulling it back. He pulled it back to her waist, then grabbed either side of her stomach and started squeezing lightly.

Teana immediately gave a loud laugh and started clawing at Atemu's hands, trying to reach down and protect her ticklish sides. Atemu squeezed several more times, forcing more hysterical laughter from his wife, before releasing her sides. She slapped up a few times at Atemu's arms, still giggling, before sitting up and kissing him on the lips.

"You're up early." She said after pulling back. "Did you already exhaust your entire harem?"

"Still working on it." He grinned wolfishly. "Thought I'd see how you're doing."

"I was sleeping." She leaned back on the pillow. "There's not a ton of room for doing good or bad there." She turned her head to look out the massive window to her right. "Is it even midnight yet?"

"Just barely." Atemu responded, turning around to look at Isis, who stood just outside the room, back turned, hands behind her back. "Apparently something serious happened and my attention is required." He too turned to look out the window at the small courtyard just behind the secondary royal bedroom, built there specifically so that the room could have some kind of a view even though it was placed in the middle of the palace. He noticed one of the window panes, near the top of the wall, had been popped out. "Was it really that hot in here?"

She glanced up at the gap in the window as well, blinking rapidly. "Oh, I...I didn't do that, I didn't even notice..." She trailed off.

The smile slowly melted off Atemu's face as he put the pieces together. He was positive that the window pane had been there for years. There was no reason for anyone to pop a panel out for temperature related reasons since there were far more efficient ways of cooling down a room. And nobody should have been here recently since it was a room only used on occasion. He grabbed Teana by the waist and roughly pulled her out of the bed, jumping to his feet and running madly for the door.

Isis turned her head just in time to jump out of the way of a frantic Pharaoh, holding his queen out in front of him who had her head twisted around looking back into the bedroom. Isis glanced into the room as well in confusion just in time to see a green bolt flash into the room through the window, hit the bed, and erupt into metallic green flames.

Immediately, the bed was consumed by the eruption as Isis threw her right forearm up over her eyes and Teana turned her head back around. Atemu felt the shockwave as the pulse from the eruption rattled the palace, dropping to the ground and dragging Teana down with him. The magical fire expanded menacingly, consuming the entire room's contents in flame.

Isis extended her right hand out towards the eruption, palm wide open, then slowly began to fold them in towards a fist. As she did, the offending green fire began to contract down into a sphere of smaller and smaller size. Atemu and Teana looked up at her as she slowly worked to contain the magic, not saying anything for fear of breaking her concentration.

Finally, as she made a fist, the ball of magic had shrunk to approximately the size of her fist. This sphere fell to the ground, resting on the now singed and burned carpet, rendered harmless.

Teana panted a few times before laying her head back down on the floor, closing her eyes as she continued to breath. Atemu, however, jumped up, his eyes hardening. He heard footsteps behind him and turned just in time to see a platoon of soldiers running down the hallway. The first several ran past him, into the now mostly bare room. Two bent down by Teana, asking if she was okay. Another stood before The Pharaoh, another before Isis.

"Almighty Pharaoh, are you alright?" The guard asked quickly, looking him over but not daring to reach out to touch him.

He nodded quickly. "Our assassin must still be here!" He shouted, looking into the room where the guards had spread out to investigate.

"Pharaoh, please follow me!" The guard insisted. "There may be another attack on the room, we have to get away from here!"

Atemu, however, marched right into the ruined room, across it to the window. Now, all the panes had been shattered, the glass shards several feet down in the sands below, along with wood splinters. He looked down at the mess below before turning his head up to look around at the small courtyard and the walls surrounding it.

"Sir, please!" The guard insisted, running up behind him. "We can not protect you here!"

"I didn't see it." He muttered, looking in every direction. "Where could it have come from?"

"The sky." Teana croaked from the doorway. Atemu and the guard turned to face that doorway, where Teana had gathered herself enough to look up from the floor back into the room.

"What?" Atemu asked.

"The bolt went through the open window pane." She said weakly, still panting. "It hit the bed. It must have come from the roofs, maybe the sky." With that, her eyelids fluttered, and inspite her best efforts she passed out. One guard picked her up at the shoulders, the other at her knees, and they began to gently transport her away.

Isis stepped into the room quickly, a few feet from the window, and bent down to pick up the small glowing orb. Her big eyes glared hard at it as she turned it over in her hand for a few seconds, then she pocketed the small ball.

She turned to the guard who had attended to her, who had dutifully followed her into the room. "Lead the way." She said shortly. The guard complied, marching out of the room with Isis trailing by two steps.

The guard who had followed Atemu looked at the Pharaoh pleadingly. Atemu considered him for a second before turning to one of the other soldiers who had entered the room.

"You heard her." He said, his face red and his tone dark. "Check the roofs. Lock down the palace. Nobody leaves. I want the assassin alive."

"Yes Pharaoh. We'll do our best." The soldier replied, nodding, but Atemu reached out to grab the collar of his jacket and pull him closer.

"Alive!" He insisted. As quickly as he had grabbed the man, he let go, then turned and started walking back towards the door. The guard quickly scrambled to take up a march in front of him, nearly being run over by the irate Pharaoh.

""""

"She would have been incinerated in the blink of an eye." Atemu said, his voice low and flat, his eyes not wavering from their staredown with the opposite end of the room. He was seated at the front of the small table of the inner circle, a room tucked away deep in the palace, hidden from untrained eyes, sealed from all potential intruders. The table, once round, had been altered to a rectangular one, The Pharaoh sitting at the head and the members of the inner circle sat, four to one side and three to the other. "There would have been nothing anyone could have done."

"I have already spoken with security." Seto, seated at Atemu's immediate right, said. "They do not believe anyone could have gotten onto the roofs by way of climbing without them knowing. They also do not think it possible that anyone could get to the roofs from above."

"And yet here we are, Seto." Atemu said, his eyes still not moving. "My wife. The Queen of Egypt. She sleeps in there."

Isis, seated at his immediate left, took her turn. "This attack was not natural." She reached into her robe's pocket and pulled out the green orb. "I know the theory and history of it well enough to be sure. This is black magic." She rolled the orb down towards Mahad, across the table. "It's quite stable and harmless now, but there's no mistaking it."

"There hasn't been a recorded use of black magic in a hundred years." Mahad said as he stopped the ball in front of him. "The art has been lost to history. No one knows how to use it."

"You're free to come up with an alternate conclusion, Mahad." Isis said. "But there isn't one to be reached."

"My kids go in there sometimes." Atemu said, still locked in a staring contest with the opposite wall. "They play with their toys in there. It could have been them. It could have been any of us."

He was distracted by the sound of heavy panting to his right. He looked down in that direction to find a girl holding up a golden tray of fruits toward him, the tray trembling as she shook in fear of standing so close to the Pharaoh. She was small with long black hair and lightly tanned skin, eyes downcast and on her knees as she held the tray up to Atemu's armrest.

He reached out to grab a grapefruit from the tray, then looked back to the table. Karim was now speaking.

"The attack...the attack on the bank. Reports indicate the robbers used strange and unnatural powers, and descriptions of the attack are consistent with the use of bla-"

Atemu pounded his left fist down onto the table, silencing the room and drawing complete attention to him. As he did this, he squeezed the grapefruit in his right hand into a juicy pulp, sticky juice squirting in all directions, with the poor slavegirl catching the brunt of the shower.

"Don't you people get it?" He yelled, dropping the grapefruit skin to the ground. The girl obediently made to pick it up, then slowly shuffled away. "MY CHILDREN!" He roared. "MY WIFE! This isn't acceptable! This shouldn't be a possibility! This attack was meant to land as we lay asleep! IN OUR BEDROOMS!"

"Pharaoh-" Seto tried to begin but there wasn't any chance of stepping in now.

"I didn't make Egypt the most dominant world power in centuries so I could sleep in fear." He hissed out to his inner circle. "If I can't go to bed at night. If my family can't go to bed at night knowing they're safe and secure. Then someone isn't doing their job."

He felt something brush his right hip. He looked down again, where the terrified slavegirl had been mopping up the grapefruit juice with a towel, and had just now made the slight mistake of trying to towel off the slightly sticky wet right side of Atemu's shirt.

Without much thought, Atemu lashed out his right hand, backhanding the girl right into the right cheek, sending her to the floor and skidding a few inches toward the far wall. A welt developing on her cheek even as she landed, the room couldn't help but wince as it happened.

Atemu glared at her for a few seconds, as the girl lay there, looking up at him with a terrified glare if there ever was one, not even daring to breathe or budge an inch. Finally, he looked back at the table, and the girl scurried back into the corner of the room.

"My deepest apologies, Pharaoh." Seto said, his voice level. "You are correct. If the royal bedrooms are not well protected, the security isn't good enough. I will resolve this issue, I swear it."

"We're damn lucky." Atemu hissed. "You don't even know the half of it."

Shada cleared his throat. "Someone's challenging our power." He nodded to himself. "Someone's gotten their hands on black magic and thinks it's enough to take on the Pharaoh. They performed a bank robbery and assassination attempt on the Queen at the same time. There's no reason for that, unless you want to send a message."

"We have a traitor." Atemu added. "Someone removed that window panel. They wanted a clear shot at the bed. If the bolt hit the window there's no guarantee of success. Someone on the inside popped the panel to give a guaranteed killshot. I want this person found as well."

To his great shock, he heard the panting again to his right. He looked down to find the slavegirl, kneeling once again, holding up a golden, jewel encrusted goblet filled with wine. So much was her trembling the wine threatened to spill over the lip of the cup. She had even forgotten herself and was staring up at The Pharaoh with massive, fear-filled eyes.

Atemu pulled his right hand back up, folding it in towards him. The girl closed her eyes, but knew if she attempted to move away and make him miss, it would only be worse for her.

As Atemu was about to uncoil his arm towards her cheek again, Seto reached his hand out and distracted him. "Please!" He dared to say, drawing a glare from the Pharaoh. "She's...she's doing her job." He finished meekly.

Atemu glanced back down at her, who continued to look up into his eyes for a half-second before remembering herself and looking back down to the floor. The wine continued to threaten to spill as she could not control her trembling. Atemu continued to glare down at her, his hand ready to strike. Finally, he lashed it out, but instead simply ripped the cup from her hands and pulled it in to take a drink from it. The girl looked up in disbelief, eyes still wide, mouth slightly agape and sweat pouring from every pore on her body. After a second's confusion, she dropped down into a full bow, putting her forehead against the floor and remaining there even as she continued to tremble.

He set the goblet on the table violently, then looked around. "Find this assassin. Find the traitor. Bring them to me alive. It's that simple." He nodded. The rest of the table followed suit, then all stood up.

He looked back down at the quivering girl, then grabbed her by her long black hair and pulled her up, a most terrified look still plastered on her face. "This little brat heard everything, now that I think about it." He pulled her up to eye level with him, as she squirmed in pain from his rough pulling. "We ought to at least cut out her tongue, I've had quite enough with traitors in my reign."

Seto swallowed hard. "She's been conditioned. From birth. She's incapable of being anything but entirely obedient to the Egyptian Royal Family."

Atemu glared at her for another half second before dropping her back down. "I will retire to the secure room." He said. "When I awaken, I expect some answers."