Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I own the plot and the Tide Whisperer.
Chapter Seventeen – Trepidation
Atemu and Yugi cautiously navigated through the backstreets of their village toward their father's cottage, keeping to the shadows as best as they could while approaching the main avenue. The closer they came to the main avenue, Atemu could see a large crowd bustling, and with every stride of the brothers' mounts, more sounds drifted to their ears.
Atemu stopped in a shadowy side street as a booming tenor voice rose above the furor of the crowd, and immediately he felt his heart drop and his rage stir, as he understood the nature of the crowd's presence.
"As commanded by King Louis of the House of Bourbon, a capital criminal, as well as an amoral pirate, has been sentenced to death by beheading in the courtyard of the Montjuic Fortress at four this afternoon. All those who wish to bear witness to this demon's death is welcome to-"
Atemu could feel the rage rise, like a separate entity, deep inside his soul, and it hungered for him to act, to bathe in these fools' blood and dine on their pleads for mercy. He forced it all back, needing to conserve that anger for when he goes back to face Louis.
Unable to hear anymore without risk of losing control, he turned his head toward Yugi, who sat upon the bay gelding with uncertainty and a selfless concern for Seto, whom the boy only knew as the man who had helped Atemu free Yugi from his prison and gave himself up to help them escape.
"Yugi," Atemu spoke quietly, not trusting his voice to stay civil should he speak any louder, "Go home." He ordered.
"But wha-"
"I haven't the time for debate, Yugi. Just do as I say." Atemu replied, cutting off the boy's protest.
Before Yugi could object or acknowledge his older brother's command, Atemu turned his mare and coaxed her into a steady trot back up the streets from where they had come, heading back toward the border.
As he past the boundary of the village, Atemu pushed the mare into a full out run, rushing as fast as he could toward the harbor.
Nine hours…Seto, hold on!
Yugi couldn't remember the last time he had seen Yami look so furious, and he never thought in his life that he would ever feel intimidated of his brother…but he definitely felt uneasy when Yami turned his steadily darkening crimson eyes in the boy's direction.
He sighed, feeling guilty for thinking that way, and he pushed those disconcerting thoughts out of his mind as he nudged the gelding around the corner of the main avenue and up the street toward his father's modest cottage not too far off.
He pulled the horse to a halt once he past the property line and dismounted. He had just touched the ground when the front door of the cottage was flung open and both Yugi's father and Mahado stood awestricken in the doorway.
"Yugi?" Akunumkanon murmured in quiet disbelief.
"It's me, father." Yugi called out to reassure them.
Akunumkanon rushed down the steps of the porch and pulled Yugi into his arms in stark relief. "Oh, my son. I'd thought I lost you as well." He whispered into Yugi's hair as he held the boy tightly, pulling him off of the ground.
"Of course not." Yugi replied.
Mahado joined the pair, "How…?"
"Yami came for me."
Yugi wasn't prepared for the supreme terror that filled Mahado's eyes, "What? Yamir…he's not…he can't be back…No!" Mahado stammered, trying to grasp the situation, but he hoped to God that he had misheard. "He's not supposed to return!"
Some of the White Dragons were on the deck, including Mokuba, when Atemu jumped over the slightly raised wall of the deck. Once the teenaged first mate looked in Atemu direction, the boy nodded with his head toward the door leading below deck toward the living quarters, and then he went straight toward Seto's cabin. Mokuba entered a few minutes later, looking both worried and irritated.
"Explain yourself, Atemu. Where is Seto?" Mokuba demanded.
"We ran into trouble while in the village waiting for Seto's weapon to be finished. One of the royal guards recognized him as the White Dragons captain and they arrested him. Seto made me stay away so that I wouldn't get caught as well, and now he's in serious trouble. At four this afternoon, Seto is scheduled for execution. We've got eight seven hours to come up with a plan."
Mokuba looked furious, "You left him to be taken by those bastards?"
"Seto is my captain, I simply obeyed orders, Mokuba." Atemu reasoned wisely.
Mokuba couldn't argue with that, but still, "All right, do you have any ideas on what to do?"
"Glad you asked."
Mahado brought the borrowed gelding to a screeching halt, the horse's hooves sliding across the slick wood of the dock before he jumped off of the horse's back and he scanned the horizon, frowning intently at seeing the Tide Whisperer anchored out and away from the docks. The sight infuriated him.
Damn you, Seto! You were supposed to keep Yamir away from Spain.
Mahado spotted a small lifeboat still tied to the dock. He got inside the boat and rowed out toward the ship, intending on giving the pirate captain a piece of his mind.
Mokuba's eyebrows knitted together as he considered Atemu's plan. It was a sound plan…although it was borderline suicidal…and Mokuba was having a difficult time trying to convince himself that there must be some other, not so dangerous, way of rescuing Seto.
Atemu allowed the boy to consider things, but he mentally counted down to the second how much longer Seto had to live, and he knew that there wasn't enough time for this.
"Look, I know I'm asking a lot from you all, but this is your captain, your older brother, and you must take every measure to ensure that he is kept alive. We're pirates, we're supposed to do foolish things like this on a daily basis."
"If we wanted to be technical, Seto would want us to leave him where he is." Mokuba muttered, frowning at the imaginings those words conjured.
"True, but that doesn't mean that we're going to leave Seto in Louis' hands."
Of all the people Atemu believed would understand his need to save Seto it would be Mokuba.
Honestly, Atemu hated to ask Mokuba or any one else to do something like this, but even Atemu knew that he didn't stand a chance against Louis and his guards on his own. He was a strategist and a warrior, but Atemu knew his limits. He needed Mokuba and the others to rescue Seto.
"Fine, I'll do as you say, but I warn you, if any of them get so much as a scratch, or if this outrageous plan of yours isn't enough to rescue Seto, I'll kill you where you stand, Santiago."
"I wouldn't expect you to do anything less. In fact, if this plan fails, I will personally offer my life as penance."
"I'll hold you to that."
Atemu strode back out onto the deck, his head pounding with the overload of thoughts, worries, and the rage that still insisted on slipping its leash.
Leaning back against the wall of the galley, Atemu took a long look out toward the ocean as it sparkled like a thousand amber diamonds from the sun upon the water's surface. The cool, gentle breeze filtered through his hair, cooling his feverish skin, and was slight comfort to him.
I'll save you, Seto…just wait for me.
"Yamir…" A strangled, familiar voice called out Atemu's original name, and he whirled to face Mahado.
He felt somewhat relieved that it was his older cousin for some reason he couldn't quite understand just then.
"Mahado." He replied with warmth in his voice, and then the significance of the older man's presence struck Atemu, "Why are you here?"
"I should be asking you that, Yami." Mahado crossed the distance between them to stand before Atemu.
"What do you mean? You know why. I came to rescue Yugi from Louis."
"And how, exactly, did you come to know of Yugi's situation?" Mahado asked, deceptively calm, and a dreadful unease rose within Atemu.
"You told me."
"No." The older man replied, his words falling heavy as stones. "I didn't."