Azzure-Malik's still following his lead, so I'll be doing my disclaimer again. I do not own Yu-gi-oh. Anyway here's chapter four, I hope that you enjoy. I really enjoyed writing this little chapter and I'm putting it up way faster than I expected to. Also a big thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far, you get cake for that.

Yugi

Yugi's breath was coming out in ragged gasps as he sprinted down the stairs and around the corner towards the open courtyard at the center of the palace. By the time he reached the grassy surface he was out of breath and panting desperately, he was late. He steadied himself on the wall with one had as he paused to catch his breath, with the other he tightly held his papers tightly to his chest.

After regaining his breath he opened the door on the far side and raced down the darker hallway, as he was running he dodged around several guards apologizing as he went. Today was the third day of Atem's absence, and although he missed his cousin this break allowed him to spend every available minute he had, while not doing lessons or working in the kitchen of course, with Mana. The paper's shifted in his grasp and he struggled to make sure that they didn't fall and fly everywhere, he had already dropped them once and he didn't want to repeat the outcome.

He was panting again when he reached the split in the hall, right or left? He knew the answer well by now; he grinned to himself and took off down the dark right path of the hall, and to think that he had only gone this way by accident. He jumped down the last few steps and landed with a thud on the ground he struggled to keep his footing as he raced down the remained of the hall to Mana's cell at the end. He could see her small shape hunched over something in her lap, he tried to slow down but felt himself hurl towards the cell, he was out of control.

Yugi hit the bars with a clang and Mana's head snapped up at the sound. Her eyes were filled with fear and anger until she caught sight of him sitting on the floor rubbing his head, "Oww…"

She giggled and set what she was working on aside before she moved over to the bars and started to help him collect the papers. He smiled and took the sheets from her, his face turning red, "Sorry."

A huge smile was covering her face, "Its fine." As Yugi let out a sigh of relief her face hardened, "You're late though."

Yugi's red cheeks turned even redder as he passed them through the bars to her, "I'm really sorry Mana, but I had to stay longer in the kitchen than I expected to, Jonouchi was delivering again today so the meat was late, again." He shook his head, "Miss Kukaju wasn't happy with him, she practically threw him out the door after he was late again."

Mana placed the stack near the back of her cell, then leaned against the bars and smiled, "I can see why, he doesn't sound very dependable."

Yugi shrugged, "I don't know, Mai says that he's dependable at some things, mainly the ones that he actually wants to do, and then he just doesn't try with others."

Mana shrugged, "I shouldn't be making judgments I suppose, after all I've never met him and don't know him at all."

"I'd like to know him better, but that won't happen." Yugi sighed wishfully.

"Why's that?" She said confused, "What's keeping you from introducing yourself and getting to know him?"

Yugi slumped to the ground, "My uncle doesn't agree with me or Atem having friends outside of the royal palace. He thinks it'll make us weak."

"Atem's your cousin right?" Yugi nodded dumbly as she paused, "I really don't see why it's so wrong to have friends outside of the palace, I mean the last pharaoh had plenty of them."

Yugi's eyes brightened, "Really? My uncle had friends outside the palace?"

Now it was Mana's turn to go red faced, "Well I don't know exactly, but my master always said it was a good idea to have friends in several places in case of an emergency. So I assume that your father would have had friends all over, after all he was pharaoh."

Yugi looked thoughtful, "So you're saying that I should try and make friends with Jonouchi?"

Mana shrugged, "Do what you want, I would try and make friends though."

Yugi grinned, "I'll do it." His smile faded when he saw her scowl, "What's wrong?"

"He's doing it again." Her voice was sour and her eyes narrowed as she glared over his head.

Yugi started to turn around, "Who is…?"

"Don't turn and look!" Mana's voice was soft and urgent, "He's watching you, I don't think we should let him know that we're on to him."

Yugi turned his head back to stare into Mana's green eyes, the girl was staring at someone out of the corner of her eye, "Who is he? And what does he want?"

Mana frowned, "I'm not exactly sure, he's been down here he was brought down here shortly after you came down to visit me two days ago. Yesterday and the day before he's been watching you; I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't think it was important."

"Who is he?" Yugi looked deep into her green eyes.

She shrugged, still watching him cautiously, "Beats me, I've never seen him before. And as far as I know no one seems to know a lot about him, your father's personal guard brought him down here. He was fighting them every step yelling at them for something." Yugi frowned; his father's personal guard had brought him here? But that made him a high ranked criminal.

"Can I look now?" He asked, all the while half turning his head.

Mana nodded, "He's not looking at the moment. But don't stare ok; I think he has a sixth sense for things like that."

Yugi nodded and shifted his body so that he could see this man. The man was sitting in the cell just diagonal to Mana's; he had his back up against the wall and sat there with his eyes shut. Wait; was it a he or a she?

"Are you sure he's a guy Mana? I mean he sort of looks like a girl." Yugi glanced back at her nervously.

Mana shook her head, "He's a guy, looks can be deceiving and his voice gives away his gender." She looked into his amethyst eyes, "Trust me I heard it."

Yugi nodded and turned his attention away from Mana and back towards the other man. He was tall, Yugi couldn't judge his exact height since he was sitting but his long legs led him to assume that he was taller than he thought. He was skinny and wore tight fitting shirt that only came halfway down his upper half and showed a good portion of his midsection. Yugi caught sight of the exposed skin and stifled a gasp; the man's skin was covered in red slash lines that Yugi immediately identified as whip marks. His pants were also tight and showed the exact length of his legs. Yugi frowned, he had no doubt that his legs were slashed up in the same manner.

He let his gaze move up to the man's head; he had darker red hair that hung close around his face except for a portion on each side that stuck out to a point. His hair itself hung down to about midway down his neck. Although his eyes were closed Yugi could still see that his features were hard and serious and the way that he had his arms crossed over his chest gave Yugi the impression that he didn't spend a lot of time laughing and smiling. He was muttering something to himself; Yugi couldn't hear a word but he saw his lips moving.

He continued to watch him even though he knew he was staring. Who was this man? And what had he done to deserve this pain? Yugi shook his head; no one deserved something like that.

He was about to turn back towards Mana when the man suddenly stopped talking to himself, opened his eyes, and looked abruptly in his direction. Yugi gasped at their silvery gray color, they locked with his own amethyst eyes and held them in their gaze, they were so…so mysterious. "Yugi! Look away!" Mana's voice screamed at him, but he couldn't look away, those gray eyes captivated him. The expression in them was hard, but seemed to soften as they gazed into Yugi's. His serious expression changed to one of first mortal confusion, then pain, and finally anger. Then he abruptly looked away and turned his attention to the wall in the opposite direction from Yugi, and a few minutes later closed them again.

Yugi blinked as their eyes broke contact, Mana's hand suddenly gripping his shoulder brought him back to reality. "Yugi!" Her voice was filled with alarm and concern.

He blinked and stared at her, "Huh?"

"Are you alright?" She looked scared and as he nodded she seemed to relax, "I'm glad, when he looked at you it gave me a fright." Her eyes narrowed, "Why didn't you look away? I warned you not to stare at him."

"I tried to!" Yugi protested, "But I couldn't it was almost as though he held me in some sort of trance."

Mana shivered, "I know what you mean." She glared angrily at the other cell, "I don't understand how he does it, but the same thing happened to me when I first saw him." She wrapped her arms around herself as though a sudden wind had chilled her, "It was weird, we made eye contact and it was if neither of us could look away, or he didn't want to. I was finally able to look away but I got the sense of pain while staring into his eyes."

Yugi nodded, he had felt the same thing except, that it had been the man who had broken the contact not him. "But what does it mean?"

Mana shrugged, "I don't know and I don't really want to." She looked back at the papers sitting in the back of her cell, "Can you come in here? I want to show you something."

Yugi nodded and rose to his feet, "I'll check and see if that guard is on duty." Mana nodded and he walked around the corner. As he passed the other cells he could fell the man's eyes watching him, he shivered as he passed, he still didn't know what to make of him. As he rounded the corner he caught sight of a familiar guard sitting at the table at the far end. He smiled, it was the exact guard that he had hoped for, he sat staring at the table twirling a couple dice between his fingers with the keys sitting on the table in front of him.

He and Mana had managed to persuade one of the guards to let Yugi borrow the keys to let himself into Mana's cell so that they could interact with each other easier. It had taken a lot of pleading over the past three days, but after he had judged Mana as not dangerous he had let Yugi use the key. He knew that his uncle might not approve, but as Mana had said, what he didn't know wasn't going to hurt him.

Yugi walked over and innocently smiled at him, when the man caught sight of him he looked at Yugi but didn't say anything. Yugi pointed at the keys, "Could I borrow those?"

The man looked over at them, "You want to be in with your friend again?"

Yugi nodded, "Yes please."

He slipped a single key off the ring and handed it to Yugi, "Be careful."

Yugi smiled, "Thank you very much." Then he took off down the hall and around the corner. He paused when he reached the last corner that would let in him into the hallway where Mana's cell was, he wasn't sure that he wanted to face that man again.

He drew in a slow breath, Mana wanted to see him and he couldn't let himself be frightened off by a single man. Besides all he had to do was walk past him and he wouldn't have to deal with him until he left. He tightened his grip on the key and rounded the corner into the hall; he walked down the hall with his eyes fixed straight ahead. He passed the cell without any problems; he didn't even feel his eyes. Perhaps he was asleep or something, he glanced back once and the man looked up at him, his gray eyes containing that slightly annoyed look. Yugi quickly turned away. What, he wondered, would Atem do?

The though vanished from his mind as he reached Mana's cell. The girl was sitting at the back, she looked up and raised an eyebrow, "You get it?"

He held up the key before he slipped into the hole, he turned it and the door swung open with a click. He slipped inside and closed the door behind him after slipping the key into his pocket. The door wasn't locked, but that wasn't a problem since Mana had promised that she wouldn't try and leave.

Mana was sitting cross-legged on the floor with several papers spread out around her, Yugi moved over and sat down next to her. He looked at the sketch drawings done and marveled at them, "These are amazing!"

Mana grinned, "Thanks, give me just a second to finish this one." She scribbled furiously on one last sheet of paper as Yugi picked up one of the sheets.

It was a black and white drawing, they all were, but he could distinctly make out the two figures drawn on the sheet. The drawing was amazing, it showed a young woman. She was drawn wearing a single layered light colored dress with a few lightly shaded areas around her waist and other parts of her arms, it almost look light…jewelry. He examined the image further, what he could see of her hair was shaded black; the vast majority however was covered in a lighter colored headpiece. There was a sense of confidence in her eyes, yet he could also see a spark of compassion within them.

The other figure on the sheet was also female, though she didn't look completely human. For one thing she had what looked like three feathers sticking up from her brow, and the other thing that set her apart were the pair of white feathery bird wings that protruded from her back. Otherwise she looked miraculously similar to the woman she was standing by, actually change that to floating. She wore a shorter dress that had a diamond pattern shaded on it, like the other woman she was quite skinny, but the expression on her face was a larger smile.

"That's Isis." He looked up at Mana's voice. She was grinning and had set her finished drawing. "She's one of the wielders of the Millennium items. And the creature next to her is Spiria."

"Spiria." Yugi whispered the name as he traced the two figures, then he looked back up at Mana, "What item did she have?"

Mana pointed to the necklace on the figure, "The Millennium Tauk."

Yugi looked at it for another moment before setting down the sketch, "What are the others?"

Mana's face brightened as she picked up the next page, "Well this is Karim and Curse of Dragon." Yugi watched in fascination as she showed him several pages of drawings done on figures from the resistance groups. She had drawings for all of the priests and numerous shadow creatures that she had known well. There were some creatures that resembled animals, then there were others who were very human like, and then there were several that could shift their shapes around. He remembered one girl who was mostly human but had the spirit of a dragon inside of her that protected herself. The whole time Mana was explaining about the figures on the pages her eyes were sparkling and Yugi couldn't help but smile along with her.

She was about to show him the last sheet when footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. They both suddenly fell silent as they footsteps came closer and closer. Yugi held his breath, if his father found out about him doing this then he could get into big trouble, and he didn't even want to think about what it meant for Mana. He knew that he should bolt out the door and pretend that he wasn't inside, but he found that he was quaking with fear and couldn't move.

Luckily the footsteps stopped at the cell right before them, the one that contained the strange man. He caught sight of the dark purple color and signified the pharaoh's personal guard. He also caught sight of the guard that had been on duty opening the door with his key ring, he looked over his shoulder to see Yugi still with Mana his green eyes widening in realization. As he stepped away from the door he stepped back to where he was blocking the guards' view of them but left enough space so that they could still see. "He's all yours."

Yugi saw the man's gray eyes flash angrily as two of the moved towards him. They picked him up roughly and he fought back, "Unhand me you little…!" He was cut off as one of the men smacked him roughly across the face.

"Watch your language you! Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

He ignored their question and continued to struggle, "I haven't done anything to you, let me go!"

The other guard laughed, "While that might be true young man, the Pharaoh believes that you have information that he can get out of you. So that's what we've been assigned to do, and we're getting what we want today."

"I won't tell you! You can't make me!" He didn't look the least bit frightened, just angry and furious at the guards themselves.

The guard laughed again, "Oh well see about that. You might change your mind after we're done with you today."

They dragged he down the hall, he fought, yelled, and struggled against them every minute but to no avail. After they were out of earshot the regular guard locked up the cell and glanced into the cell where Yugi and Mana were huddled, "They'll probably be back in a couple of hours; I suggest being gone by then my prince." Yugi nodded, the guard bowed and then headed back down the hall to the table.

Yugi looked at Mana who looked right back causing their eyes to meet. "What was that about?"

Mana shrugged, "Whatever it was it didn't sound good for him."

Yugi looked out the bars towards the empty cell, "Do you think he'll be alright?"

"If he gives in to what they want quickly then yeah, I think he'll be fine." She sighed, "He doesn't strike me as the type who would do something like that though." She paused then reached for the last sheet, "I really want to show you this one before you go."

Yugi looked at the sheet she held out to him. He took it and silently looked at image on the page. It showed a young man slightly older than his cousin was now; he had on a headdress that covered any hair that he might have. He wore a light colored outfit with jewelry similar to those of the other priests. He wore a strange object around his neck, one that Yugi didn't recognize. It was a single ring with a triangle piece in the center and five shorter spikes hanging from the side. He had a look of determination in his eyes and a serious expression on his face, but aside from his expression he also saw a spark of amusement in his eyes.

Next to him in the picture, Yugi saw what looked to be a floating suit of armor. It was completely black inside except for a single pair of eyes. It was floating just to the side of the man; it held a staff that was almost half as tall as it was. At the head of the staff there was a sparkling orb nestled inside.

Yugi looked at Mana, "Who is this?"

Mana smiled, "Master Mahado." Her eyes sparkled with determination, "He taught me everything I know, and when I get out of here I'm going to prove to him that I am a great wizard and the greatest apprentice he's ever had."

Yugi looked at the man, so this was Mana's master…and…and Atem's friend. He stared into his eyes, what was he really like? His two best friends knew him, but would he approve him Yugi himself? He let his eyes flicker to the other shape, "Who's that?" He pointed to the figure.

"Huh?" Mana looked down at the sheet, "Him?" He pointed to the other figure and Yugi nodded, "That's Master Mahado's greatest ally and best friend of the shadow creatures. He's called the Illusion Magician."

"The Illusion Magician?" Yugi echoed, "Why is he called that?"

Mana shrugged, "You'd have to ask Master Mahado that. It's weird; I'm not sure how exactly they met either."

"You don't know how they met?"

Mana shook her head, "No, it's like that with the other priests to actually. They somehow knew their partners before they shadow creatures were given physical forms of their own. I don't know how."

Yugi looked at all the papers spread around him, "These are amazing Mana. Can you really remember them all that well?"

She nodded, "I have to. Until you came along I was alone down here, knowing that they were out there was the only thing that kept me from just trying to kill myself." She leaned over and hugged Yugi, "I'm really happy you're here now though."

Yugi's face turned red, "I'm glad I met you too."

Atem

The wind blew softly as their horses worked their way towards the town Atem could see forming in the distance. They had been into town every day for the last three days but had yet to see Shimon's friend even once. The raids had increased by the town making it impossible to safely stay in the town, so they had to stay in an inn one town over and ride the distance every day. Shimon's friend also lived in the part of town that had been considered the most dangerous until today, today they could actually go meet him.

He groaned and let his head fall down and rest on horse's neck. Shimon looked over at him, "Is something wrong Atem?" When not around his uncle Atem knew that Shimon preferred to go off a first name basis and he couldn't say that he minded, it got irritating to have someone call you my prince or your highness all the time.

Atem looked up, "I'm fine, I was just hoping that we would have more time to spend with your friend before we left tomorrow. He sounds very interesting."

Shimon nodded and nudged his horse forward so that it was parallel with the prince's own. "I understand, that's why we won't be leaving tomorrow after all."

Atem looked over at him, "Excuse me?"

Shimon smiled, "I assumed that you would feel that way so I sent a messenger back to your uncle informing him that due to uncontrolled circumstances we would be staying a few extra days." He looked up as the town became closer in the distance, "I'd suggest pulling up your hood now, we're getting very close to town."

Atem nodded and pulled his purple cloak hood up over his hair, although his uncle had said that they had to take several groups of guards with them Shimon had persuaded them to stay at the inn saying that he could protect Atem if they were to get attacked. Though the head guard had seemed much less inclined to do so today for some odd reason.

"How far away is it?" He asked as they passed through the gates.

Shimon had pulled up his own hood but Atem could still see his brown eyes from under the hood, "It's not much further now."

Atem nodded and kept his eyes moving as they moved down the streets, the houses around him progressively became more run down and the people on the streets became less friendly and more paranoid and cautious. Atem realized quickly that they were heading into the lower districts of the city. They had passed several groups who shot them dark looks as they passed before Atem directed his horse right next to Shimon's. The advisor seemed to read his thoughts, "Not much further my prince."

He was right, only moments later he directed horse towards the front of a rundown tavern. He dismounted and handed his reigns to Atem, "I'll be right back, just sit tight for a moment." Atem watched him enter the tavern and sat fidgeting in the saddle as the door closed. All around him he could see people watching him; he felt the tension in the air rise as the length of time Shimon was inside the tavern increased.

He was about to go into the tavern and find Shimon when the door opened and the old advisor stepped out with another man close behind him. The man wore a cloak similar to the one that Shimon wore but had to hood pulled back to reveal his long black hair and beard. Atem frowned, he looked familiar to someone that he had seen before, but he couldn't place him. The man followed Shimon down the steps and paused to look up at Atem, "Is he the one?"

Atem stared down at him, what did he mean by that? And who was he? Shimon walked over and nodded, "Yes, this is he."

The man walked over and unhooked the reigns of a horse hitched nearby he mounted the beast while Shimon took his reigns from Atem. When the boy shot him a confused look he whispered, "Yes this is my friend." When Atem continued to frown he added, "We're going back to his place, I'll explain everything there."

The black horse trotted over on the other side of Shimon, the man on his back raised an eyebrow. "Ready to go?"

Shimon nodded, "Lead on."

The man nodded and nudged his horse forward Shimon and Atem followed him close behind. They rode through the town for several minutes; Atem caught more and more people watching them as they rode by. Why was everyone so interested in them? Was it so odd for people to ride through town on horses? His thoughts were interrupted when they reached the house of Shimon's friend.

The man dismounted and handed the reins to a young girl, who looked about Yugi's age, standing off to the side. She bowed and led the horse into the stable at the side of the house. Atem frowned; this house was much nicer than all the others that he had seen in that part of town. He looked around; actually they didn't even seem to be in town any longer. Where were they?

"Atem." Shimon's voice brought him back to reality. "I'm going inside; feel free to look around if you want. When you're ready we'll meet you in study." Atem nodded as the advisor walked through the door after handing his reigns to the same girl who had exited again.

Atem dismounted and looked around at the many trees around the house. It was amazing, he hadn't seen this many plants except back at the palace. "Excuse me." He turned to see the young girl watching him. "May I take your horse for you?"

"Uh…of course." He handed her the reigns and she bowed before leading it to the stables. He looked around; Shimon had said that he would meet them in the study, wherever that was. He entered the house and wandered around the halls absently searching for the right room. He had wandered in a circle when he saw the door open and saw the girl enter into the hall. He hadn't gotten a good look at her yet, she was blond with long hair that ran down her back. She wore a pair of blue glasses and had started towards the heart of the house, "Excuse me!" He called after her.

She turned around and looked surprised to see him, "Yes?"

"Could you perhaps help me with something?" He gestured around, "I was told Shimon and his friend were in the study, but I don't have any idea where that is."

"My grandpa's in the study, that's where I'm going too." She replied as she started down the study, "Follow me." Atem nodded and followed her down the hall to a closed door; he reached out to knock when she stopped him. The two of them stood in silence as they heard voices coming from the other side.

The girl pressed her ear against the door, Atem shook his head, "We shouldn't be doing this."

She gave him a bored look, "Oh don't tell me that you've never done it before, and besides I want to know what they're saying." Atem waited another moment before he leaned against the door to join her. The first voice he heard was one that he didn't recognize because it clearly wasn't Shimon and didn't sound like the other man he had met in town.

"Have you told him yet Shimon?"

Shimon's voice answered, "Not yet, I still have the remainder of the week."

"He has the right to know." Came the third voice, that was his friend, "And every second you keep it from him makes the situation worse for us."

"Yes, but ignorance is bliss." Shimon countered.

"Not in this case I'm afraid." That was the unfamiliar voice again.

"Arthur's right Shimon, we're losing our chance to fix this. He has to know."

"I know alright!?" Shimon sounded angry, "I've already heard this conversation at least a thousand times before! This is my last week before I'm forced to tell him everything and I plan to keep the pharaoh's son in the dark as long as possible!"

Atem gasped, he was talking about Yugi again! The girl looked up at him again, and mouthed with a horse whisper that was so soft that he almost did hear it, "You know what they're talking about?"

"I know who they're talking about." Atem said nodding at her.

She put her finger to her lips and the two of them pressed their ears against the door again.

"Shimon, I know that you don't want to tell him but…" It was the man he had met in town speaking again.

Shimon interrupted him, "I know how it is Naeem. I don't need to be told again."

"That's not what I meant." The man, Naeem, said sternly. "They're back Shimon."

"What!?" Shimon suddenly sounded alarmed, "They can't be! Aknamkanon dealt with them, we had a deal! Why are they back?"

"It seems that Gozaburo decided not to honor that deal." Naeem replied angrily.

"What do you mean!?"

The other man, Arthur, broke into the conversation. "Someone I knew saw his own personal guard dragging one of their own men into the palace. I have no doubt that he will be tortured for every ounce of information they can get out of him."

"How did you learn this?"

"Rebecca and I happened to be in town doing research on a particular subject that would be familiar to you."

Shimon's voice brightened, "Any luck?"

"None I'm afraid…" His sentence was cut off as the blond girl pulled him away from the door and towards another.

She shut the door behind him as he entered the room then turned around to glare at him, "Explain!"

Atem was surprised at her sudden aggressiveness, "What?"

"Explain what they were talking about! And don't lie I know you know!" She stared at him with her green eyes and a frown on her face.

Atem shook his head, "I don't know everything, I was hoping that you could help me with some of that."

She seemed to relax, "Like what?"

"First of all who are you?"

She placed her hands on her hips, "My name's Rebecca granddaughter of Arthur. Yours?"

Atem sighed, "Prince Atem, son of the previous Pharaoh Aknamkanon."

She frowned, "You're the prince?"

"Myself and my cousin Yugi yes." He paused then added, "He's the one that they were talking about in there."

"The pharaoh's son?"

"Yes" He answered her nodding, "Who are those men in there with Shimon, do you know?"

Rebecca sat down in a chair next to him, "Well Arthur is my grandfather is Arthur, the other man is someone named Naeem."

"I caught that." Atem said nodding, "But who are they specifically?"

Rebecca bit her lip, "Well my grandpa is a traveling scholar, we've been traveling around gathering information from locals. As for Naeem, I have no idea who he is."

Atem frowned, "What about this project your grandfather was talking about? Do you know anything about that?"

Rebecca frowned, "Grandpa's been pretty secretive on his project, I don't know a whole lot about it." As Atem sighed and put his face in his hands she shrugged apologetically, "Sorry."

"It's not your fault." Atems said with a sigh, "I just wish I had more of an idea of what they were talking about. That and what they're keeping from Yugi."

"You really care about him don't you?"

Atem nodded, "Yes, he's my cousin and if something ever happened to him I'm not sure that I could take it."

Rebecca nodded politely but they both froze as the door across the hall opened and a voice called out, "Rebecca? Where are you?"

The girl responded quick and raced over to the door, "I'm in here grandpa, I was just showing Atem around."

Atem followed her to the door and Shimon smiled when he saw him, "Ah Atem it's good of you to allow Rebecca to show you around." He turned to the other men, "I'd like you to meet a few friends of mine." He gestured to the one Atem didn't recognize first, he was taller than Shimon and had gray hair, "This is Arthur." Then Atem turned his attention to the other man, his black hair pulled back over his shoulders now, "And this is Naeem."

Naeem bowed, "Prince Atem."

Arthur followed in suit, "My prince."

Atem bowed back, "It's my pleasure to meet you."

Arthur turned to Rebecca, "We should be going Rebecca."

Rebecca made a face but then turned and bowed to the three of them, "It was a pleasure meeting you."

Arthur smiled, "I shall send a message to you when we arrive Naeem." The other man nodded.

Rebecca looked confused, "Where are we going?"

Arthur shook his head, "I'll tell you later."

She frowned and started after him, but only after she turned around and winked at Atem, "Bye Atem." Atem sighed as she chased after her grandfather, "So where are we going?"

"Atem." He spun around to see Shimon starting back into the room, "Naeem and I would like to speak with you for a moment." He nodded and followed Shimon in a furnished room that reminded Atem of library back at the palace. There were books on shelves completely surrounding the room, Atem started at them all in fascination.

"I'm a big reader." Naeem said; he seemed to have caught the surprise on Atem's face. He sat down in a chair and left two across the room for Shimon and Atem. As Atem sat down next to Shimon the man's face hardened, "Now, down to business." He looked at Atem, "I understand you've been studying with Shimon."

Atem nodded, "Yes."

"Well, I'd like to ask you a few questions about this conflict we're fighting if you don't mind."

Atem shook his head and Shimon's face hardened, "Now Naeem, we didn't agree to…"

"Relax Shimon." Naeem kept his eyes focused on Atem, "I want to know what you think of the whole conflict."

Atem frowned, "I don't know enough information from either side to make a sound decision, but I feel that we shouldn't be fighting against each other." He looked up at Naeem, "It would be better if we could end this on negotiation…" He shivered as he recalled the number of deaths he had seen the single night he had gone out, "It would prevent unnecessary deaths on both sides."

Naeem nodded, "I agree, but what if the conflict could not be not be avoided and violence was the only answer? What would your choice be then?"

Atem frowned, "I suppose then everyone would have to make their own choice on which side they stand with."

Naeem watched him, his brown eyes serious but otherwise unreadable, "And you?"

"I myself would pick a side and stick with them until the end." Atem said, he knew the answer from the bottom of his heart.

"Even if that side were to lose?" Naeem countered his expression still serious.

"Yes" Atem said nodding, "Even if they were to lose."

Naeem leaned back and looked at Shimon, "I'm good with it." Atem was confused, what was he good with?

Shimon sighed and looked out the window at the far side of the room, the light was fading and Atem knew that he was going to suggest heading back. Sure enough the man spoke a moment later, "We should be leaving Atem." Shimon however did look back at Naeem. "We'll come back over tomorrow if it wouldn't be a problem. I still have things I need to talk to you about."

The man nodded, "Of course, you're more than welcome to come back."

Shimon bowed, "Then until tomorrow." He nodded once at Atem and started out the door, the prince following close behind him.

As soon as they had exited the building and remounted their horses Atem let his mind wander around to all the events that had just taken place, it seemed that every time he tried to find the answers to one question he had he would be confronted with another one along with no answer to the first. He sighed and let his head rest on the horse's neck. The beast shook its head softly and Atem just sighed again he knew that all things had a purpose, but what was the purpose of confusing him to death exactly? He sighed and closed his eyes as he fell into the gently rhythm of the horse's movement, soon all his problems vanished as he fell asleep.

?

The whip slashed viciously across his back, he drew in a sharp breath as the sting spread over his entire body followed closely behind by the dripping of blood down his back. That one would probably leave a mark, as would the next one, and probably the one after that. He smirked slightly, only to have it removed seconds later when the whip made contact with his back once again; every one of them would leave a mark, the thousand that he had already had to put up with, and the thousand more that would most likely come in the future too. Of course they would have to whip him until they killed him, because he wasn't planning on giving them what they wanted.

He grunted as the whip made contact with his back again; he could take it, after everything he had been through in his childhood this should be a breeze for him. But that didn't mean that the pain that came with it didn't hurt.

His breath was coming in ragged gasps as they paused in his torture, one of the men walked around into his line of sighed, "You ready to talk yet?" He regarded his captor coolly with his eyes; once again he was determined not to say anything. The guard didn't seem the least bit irritated by his silence, "You know, I'm surprised a girl like you could hold out this long. You haven't even screamed once." He laughed and looked back at his partner, "Wouldn't you like to hear her scream?" He ruffled his hair and the young adult had to resist trying to bite his hand, "Why don't you scream for us girly?"

Oh how he'd love to punch that smug expression off his face, along with half a dozen other things; he balled his hands into hard fists and felt the ropes tighten around where they held them together above his head. He gritted his teeth and used every last bit of willpower he had to keep himself from exploding, that man knew very well that he wasn't a girl, and he was just using it to irritate him. But it wasn't going to work; he wasn't going to give in now just because some idiot decided that torturing him was fun. He let out a slow breath and closed his eyes; normally he wouldn't have given in to his anger so quickly. But he had been pushed around just to the point where he would explode if something didn't stop them soon.

The guard didn't seem to like not getting a reaction out of him and slapped him across the face, "What, are you too good to even speak to us now?" When he didn't respond the man grabbed the whip and slashed him with it again and again. He drew in a sharp breath and gritted his teach against the pain, he felt his blood running down his back and splashing to the floor below. The guard moved back in front of him and held his face only inches away from his own, his voice came out in a hoarse whisper, "Tell me what I want to know, I know that you know."

He narrowed his nearly colorless eyes to slits, "No."

The man obviously didn't like that answer, as he picked up the whip and started slashing him violently. The younger man arched his back in pain and bit his tongue as it was all he could do from screaming in agony. The man continued to lash out, "You will tell me what I want to know! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

The man slowly stopped biting his tongue and spoke firmly, but with difficulty to even form the words, "You'll have to kill me first."

The man smiled, "I think that can be arranged, all I have to do is ask the pharaoh first."

Suddenly man rushed into the room, his eyes were wide and he looked scared out of his wits. "The Pharaoh is coming Sir!"

The man smiled and once again ruffled the younger man's hair, "Hear that kid? Looks like we won't have to wait so long to get permission for you to die after all, doesn't that just make your day?"

He let his body go limp and closed his eyes as a sigh escaped his lips; his day couldn't possibly get any worse now, he was in for the most painful time of his life and it would only get worse from there. He listened for footsteps and recalled an old saying that he had heard over and over on numerous occasions, it certainly fit the situation right now. He glanced at the door as it opened and as the guards were bowing before the pharaoh he muttered under his breath, "Speak of the devil and he appears."

Malik- Well that was certainly interesting.

Azzure-So how'd it go?

Malik- He'll be here by the next chapter! I'm so excited!

Azzure- Alright Malik you know the drill.

Malik- Alright everyone, if you want to know who will be joining me next chapter and what happens in the story, then please leave a review so that Miss Azzure will write it. Besides look at that nice little button down there than needs some tender loving care.

Azzure- Wow Malik, just wow.