Dream Prince

Chapter 4

Atemu's Obstacles

"Ready to go, cousin?" Seto questioned as he marched right into Atemu's room without as much as a knock. Atemu lifted his head from his almost-finished packing and shot the brunet a glare.

"Does it look like I'm ready?" Atemu asked in a displeased grumble before focusing on the task at hand again. "I think not."

"Well, at least you're dressed already", Seto commented but Atemu did not bother to answer. They were both wearing simpler clothes than they usually would, but they were both carrying some of the jewellery that served as a sign of their status. Even though they could not wear their fancy clothes while riding through the desert and getting smeared by dirt, there was no way either of them was going to travel anywhere without at least one symbol that proved that they were different from regular people.

"Do you know who father is sending with us?" Atemu questioned from his cousin, finally having moved all the things he needed into his bag and closing it. "I wouldn't put it past you to go lurking around trying to find clues."

"Now, are you sure you aren't talking about yourself, dear cousin?" Seto questioned with a cocky smirk. "I don't lurk, ever." The brunet waited until Atemu had hung his bag from his shoulder before adding: "But I do know what the official construction of our happy party is going to be."

Atemu smiled to himself as he followed after the taller teen. He could always count on Seto to be aware of everything that was going on in the palace, even though the young prince had no idea how his cousin managed to get his information.

"So, who is going to be accompanying us?" Atemu asked when he and Seto stepped into the palace hall. "And have you said goodbye to your younger brother already?"

"Of course I have", Seto snapped angrily. "How could you ever doubt that?" The brunet did not expect an answer to his question, however, since he immediately continued on: "We will be accompanied by one of the palace healers; his name is Ryou. He will be providing us with medical knowledge, meaning that he will both heal our troops and train other healers for the battles."

Atemu nodded his head at Seto's explanation, remembering the person the brunet was talking about. Ryou was the youngest fully learned healer in the palace and was actually very skilled despite his young age. Ryou was around Seto and Atemu's age and had very unusual looks for an Egyptian. The small boy had pale skin that burned easily in the sun. Because of this he always wore scarves and shawls to cover his sensitive skin whenever he went outside. Because of his frail built Ryou looked a lot like a woman when he was walking outside, with his whole body and face covered in clothing. Ryou also had pure white hair that reached midway down his back. The boy always braided it before dressing himself for an outing, so that the long stresses would not tickle him underneath his clothes.

Even though Ryou was a good healer he knew nothing about actual combat. Because of this Atemu knew that there was a fourth person accompanying them as well.

Nodding his head in approval at Ryou accompanying them he spoke: "That's good to hear. Ryou will definitely do a great job." He started moving his feet faster, since he was starting to fall behind of his cousin's long strides. "And who is going to be determining when my troops are fit for combat?"

"This you won't like", Seto grumbled in a clearly displeased manner and Atemu had a brief moment to wonder who could be that bad before the brunet continued: "Odji is going to be coming along to decide on that."

Atemu's steps actually faltered, causing the prince to almost fall at the news. It was with desperation visible on his face that he exclaimed incredulously: "You're kidding, right? Father couldn't have possibly chosen Odji! He's stupid, vain and hates me more than anything else!"

"I agree on all but the first claim", Seto replied to Atemu's rant. "I'm sorry, Atemu, but I'm not joking. Odji is going to be deciding whether or not you will get to lead your own battalion and he is not going to make things easy for you." Seto finally glanced at Atemu as he finished seriously: "Despite your biased accusation, Odji is actually reasonably intelligent. He is going to use all of your possible slips to his advantage in order to make you look bad. You'll have to be on your guard when you're around him."

"Yeah, I know", Atemu admitted with a sigh. "Odji is wily, and easily underestimated. You've told me this countless times, Seto. I won't forget it." The prince glared at the empty hallway in front of them as the two continued walking. "He's going to use every dirty tactic he knows in order to make me lose face, and the thing is that he probably knows a lot of tactics."

"Well, at least you have me", Seto comforted with plotting evident in his tone of voice. "Even if Odji tries something, between you and me we will have the situation cleared up in no time. No matter how smart Odji can be, we are still smarter."

"How is it that you seem to always be in the middle ground in confidence while I either have too much or too little of it?" Atemu questioned with an amused smile at his cousin. "It's almost frightening."

"The answer is rather easy", Seto replied. "I know my own talents and I aim to know those of my opponent as well. Between the two I will know what skills I will need to deploy in order to win."

Atemu chuckled as he shook his head slowly from side to side before speaking out: "Life is just a game to you, isn't it?"

"Not any more than it is to you", Seto shot back without the slightest bit of hesitation and Atemu released a bout of full-blown laughter in response to the comment. Well, the two of them had not had much else to do than play games against each other while growing up in the palace, so such views came naturally to them.

Soon enough the pair made its way out of the palace and instantly headed towards the stables. Hopefully they would be able to start travelling soon, so that they could travel as long a distance as possible while it was still daytime. Atemu's father had assigned him to train the troops at one of the camps that were stationed the farthest from the palace, almost outside the kingdom boundaries. Atemu had never been that far away, so the young prince did not really know what to expect from his future soldiers.

When Atemu and Seto arrived at the stables, Ryou and Odji were both already there. Ryou was dressed just like Atemu had pictured him to be, completely wrapped in pieces of cloth so that only his hazel brown eyes were visible. Odji was dressed in a simple tunic but had a pendant with his family symbol hanging around his neck, marking him as nobility. The noble was wearing a scarf wrapped around his head and his long, onyx black hair was tied up into a ponytail. The raven-haired man was also the same age as the rest of the group and his clear, bright green eyes focused on Atemu and Seto immediately when the two were close enough for their steps on sand to be heard.

Odji grinned widely at the new arrivals, the expression so exaggerated that it had to be fake, before calling to them loudly: "Atemu, Seto! A nice day for travel, isn't it?"

"Spare the pleasantries, Odji", Seto snapped as he pushed past the other teen, Atemu following right after his cousin. It seemed that Seto had decided to waste no time before showing Odji that he could not fool them with his fake friendliness. This was one of those rare times that Atemu did not actually mind his cousin's rude tendencies.

"Well, aren't you digging up the hatchet quickly…" Odji commented, all pretence of politeness gone from his voice. "I take it you won't even try to make me behave myself by befriending me?"

"We don't like to waste time on endeavours that are bound to fail. You care as much for your friends as you do for your enemies", Seto shot back and Atemu decided to let the verbal brawl for his cousin to take care of. No one argued or threw insults better than Seto; this was a fact of life to Atemu and it was very stupid of Odji to forget that. Oh, well, Atemu was sure that the raven-haired teen would learn after getting chewed up and spat out by Seto during the travelling they were going to cover that day.

1.

Atemu seriously should have seen it coming, Seto thought as the two teens checked the recruited troops that had gathered in the camp. There were a couple of more experienced soldiers but most of the lot were completely helpless peasants who were not even old enough to have facial hair yet. It would take ages to make these boys into halfway decent warriors.

As Atemu went through a roll call on the men present, Odji followed after him and made a note of each name into the roll of papyrus he was carrying with him. From his position right next to the raven-haired teen, Seto could clearly see that Odji was fighting back snickers. And why would he not be? These troops were not his to command and it was actually a better thing for him if the soldiers were not really soldiers at all. That way he would not have to come up with reasons to keep Atemu out of the war. These pathetic excuses of warriors would do the job for him. The raven-haired boy probably expected to be praised for the report that would keep the prince of Egypt out of the fights with such unreliable backup.

"You are all dismissed", Atemu spoke suddenly, snapping Seto out of his thoughts. Apparently they were finished with the listing now. Atemu finally turned to face Seto and Odji and his mouth had been pressed into a tight, displeased line. Seto knew from that expression that the crimson-eyed youth also knew how hopeless the situation appeared to be.

"I have to say that I have never seen a more useless bunch of soldiers", Odji commented in a tone of voice that was way too pleased in Seto's opinion. "There is no way I can allow my prince to march into war with those children as his troops." The raven-haired teen then wrapped up the scroll he had been writing in and waved cheerily. "Have fun playing commander. Buh-bye!" And with that the nuisance pretty much skipped off. Seto really hoped that the other forgot that he had to do a report on their equipment as well, because if he did then they would get to…discipline him. Ah, how Seto loved that word, especially as a tool of revenge.

"I can't believe the nerve of that guy!" Atemu snapped angrily and Seto turned his attention back to his cousin. "First he dares to insult my troops and then he walks off without me dismissing him first." A wicked smirk appeared on the youth's face. "I'll show him. I'm going to make these boys into men, the best men in the entire army."

Knowing that it was pretty much up to him to return his prince down to earth Seto coughed discreetly, instantly getting Atemu's crimson eyes focused on him.

"What is it?" Atemu asked in an angered manner. "You don't agree with me?"

"Frankly, I don't", Seto confessed without any remorse at all. He turned slightly to show the other teen than he wanted to walk as they talked. Atemu caught the hint and the two started a stroll through the camp site side by side as Seto continued: "I'm sorry to tell you this, cousin, but as far as I can see this lot has no hope whatsoever."

"Damn it, Seto", Atemu growled in annoyance. "I'm better off with Odji as my enemy than with you as my ally."

Smiling slightly at the prince's words Seto shot back: "If I weren't your ally, I would be on Odji's side ridiculing you." The words were instantly shot down when Atemu countered: "If you weren't my ally you wouldn't even be here in the first place."

"Valid point", Seto muttered thoughtfully. There was a sigh from Atemu before the shorter teen spoke: "How about you do something useful for a change and help me shoot Odji off his high horse?"

"Fine", Seto replied as he went back into the plotting from before. If there was one thing he was good at, it was taking advantage of other people's weaknesses. Soon enough he had devised the beginning of a plan and spoke out: "I think I got it. We're going to hit Odji where it hurts the most." Seto shot a look at his cousin. "Do you know what his weakest point is?"

"Besides his stupidity?" came Atemu's biased retort. The prince corrected himself afterwards, however, and gave a more realistic answer to the question: "His reflection."

"Close, but not quite", Seto replied in amusement before smirking in a manner that most people described as a sign of impending doom. "I'm talking about his hair."

To be continued…

Ending Notes: This chapter is about one page shorter than what is my norm, sorry about that. There was an amusing chapter for you, next one will be more serious and we will finally be getting to see some Yugi in it. Notice also this: Odji is not an OC. Look at his name and read his description and you will be able to make the connection.