Chapter 8 (HIM – Wings of a Butterfly)
Mudada was strangely silent as they traveled down the hall, and Yugi didn't like the look on his face at all. They passed by the door to the pharaoh's room, but Yugi was too dazed to notice. It wasn't until they started down a staircase that Yugi looked up.
The staircase was narrow, spiraling down below the palace. As the light faded it got colder, and the rustle of background noise that inhabited the castle during the daylight hours faded. It was replaced by a rushing of water, as if the Nile was trying to reach through the walls. Yugi's stomach began to flutter unpleasantly, and he gathered his courage to speak.
"Mudada, shouldn't we go back to the pharaoh's rooms?" he asked.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Mudada sneered. He tightened his hold on Yugi's arm and speed up. "Back in the pharaoh's luxury, where you have no right to be."
Yugi swallowed and stumbled as they reached the dungeons. He lifted his aching head and looked around, then quickly wished he hadn't.
For all of the horror stories that the girls told him about the pharaoh in a bad mood, the pharaoh was not a cruel man. He was one of the kindest rulers Egypt had had in a long time. Although stern with his subjects, it had been many years since he had sentenced anyone to torture in the dungeons. In the years of his reign they had fallen into disrepair. They still had all of the instruments of torture expected of a pharaoh's dungeon, and they were even more frightening for their years of neglect. Rust and sand had drifted over the spikes and chains, making them rough to the touch. Whips and ropes had stiffened over the ages until they hung like bars themselves. Spiders, scorpions, and desert rats had taken up residence and left their mess of webs and dung behind them. Torches in the walls had burnt down, leaving the floor covered in a layer of ash that clung to Yugi's feet and legs. He could see no footprints in the ash before him, and only his and Mudada's prints followed behind.
They emerged into a clear space with a low post in the center of it. Mudada flung Yugi down beside it and made quick work of tying him to it. He turned without a word and disappeared into the darkness.
Yugi was left shivering in the cold. As much as he feared Mudada right now, being left alone was worse. 'Is he going to leave me here to die?' Yugi thought 'No one will ever find me here!' He bent to lean his forehead against the post and let the tears track down his face.
"Crying already?" came Mudada's mocking voice "And I haven't even started."
Yugi looked up, too frightened to speak as Mudada began circling him. He was carrying a strange whip in his hand. Several straps of stiff leather dangled off the handle, each one threaded with sharp, rusty spikes of metal. Yugi had heard of such weapons in stories, but he had never truly believed such a cruel thing could exist. He had a feeling he would never doubt again.
"So, you thought it was a good idea to try and find the pharaoh on your own did you?" he said "Getting ideas above your station, huh!?" He swung quickly and brought the flail down across Yugi's back several times, panting with the exertion.
Yugi screamed. "Mudada, no! I had to return the pharaoh's pendant! Ahhhhh! Please, Mudada! I didn't mean any harm! Aaaagggghhhhhhh!" He huddled closer to the post, trying to protect his legs and chest from the blows, not that it helped. The flail wrapped around his body, the spikes ripping his skin and his clothes. He felt his warm blood pouring down his back, and was relieved for the relief from the cold. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the whipping stopped. Mudada had stepped back.
"I was kind to you, runt!" Mudada shouted "You reminded me of my own son. But I was wrong….My own son would never be so ungrateful! I was kind to you, you rat!" Mudada brought the flail down on Yugi's back again with the last word.
After what felt like ages, he pulled back. Yugi risked a glance to the side and saw that Mudada had tears running down his face as well. "I don't deserve to be the pharaoh's fuck-toy!" he screamed "I have a family to take care of!" Yugi shuddered at the raw fear and hatred in his voice. "I won't let this happen! By the time I'm done with you you'll be so messed up that the pharaoh won't give you second look! He'll never want an ugly little rat like you!"
***
It was hours later when a worn-out Mudada dragged Yugi's limp and bloody form up the stairs. He dropped him on the floor in the pharaoh's lounge, then bound his ankles. The rusty cuffs that held him had spikes ringed around the inside, so if he struggled or moved they would dig into his already tender flesh. Mudada stepped back and beheld his work.
Yugi's back was a mass of scars and blood, already drying and scabbing in some places. His clothes were cut to ribbons and hung in tatters around his body. He was covered from head to foot in a layer of ash and sand, mixing with his blood and staining the floor. Salt crumbled off his face from his tears. His hair was a matted, tangled mess that fell into his eyes as he lay curled on the floor, barely conscious.
Mudada gazed at Yugi one last time, long and hard and serious, before he turned and left.