Chapter 33- Truths Unveiled
"We just brought those bastards here today. Why is the Pharaoh having their trial now?" Bakura asked.
"I think that it's because he wants to deal with this situation as soon as possible." Yami said.
"Do you think that this Lydia bitch will be able to talk her way out of this?" Ryou asked.
"Not a chance. She hired killers to kill a Prince of Egypt. That in itself is an immediate death sentence." Bakura said.
"Besides, I believe that the fact that she was going to allow a bunch of heartless men to rape and murder a child is something that he is not willing to allow to let slip by." Atemu said.
"She deserves whatever he decides." Yugi said.
"Could I make the suggestion that we all get to the throne room so that the Pharaoh does not kill us all for being late?" Seth asked.
"An excellent point. Let's go." Heba said.
The group headed for the throne room.
Lydia was glaring at Akerian. "I swear that if you tell the Pharaoh about my relation to Vivian, I will tell him everything that you did to aid me." Lydia hissed.
"Do you really think that I care? I'm certain that he already knows my part in it. I'll do and say anything to get out of death. Besides, I don't think that the Pharaoh is going to let you out of trying to have Prince Yugi killed." Akerian said.
"Shut up! He doesn't have to know everything!" Lydia screamed.
"I'm not going to let him do the worst to me. If selling you out will save my life, then I will do it." Akerian said.
"Will you two shut up!" a voice snapped.
The two looked out to see two guards along with Mahado and Karim standing there.
"The Pharaoh is having your trial now. He doesn't want it to wait at all." Mahado said. He motioned for the guards to get them.
The two guards entered the cell and brought Lydia and Akerian out, chained.
"You'll never get away with this!" Lydia hissed.
"I believe that we should be the ones saying that to you." Karim said.
The two guards forced Lydia and Akerian to walk down the hall with Mahado and Karim following them.
Aknankanon and Amara were already sitting on their thrones with the rest of the court there.
Given how far along his pregnancy was, Yugi sat down as well.
A few moments later, Mahado and Karim entered the room.
"Are the prisoners outside?" Aknankanon asked.
"Yes, Pharaohs. The guards are restraining them." Mahado said.
"Very well. Let's begin." Aknankanon said.
Mahado and Karim took their places with the rest of the priests.
"Bring in the prisoners!" Aknankanon ordered.
The throne room doors opened again, and the guards came in, dragging Lydia and Akerian into the room. It was obvious that the two prisoners were fighting with the guards.
Aknankanon internally groaned. 'They are doing nothing, but getting on my nerves.' Aknankanon thought.
The guards got Akerian and Lydia to the throne and forced them to kneel before Aknankanon.
"Lydia. Akerian. You have both been charged with the attempted murder of my son-in-law, Prince Yugi. You are also charged with the kidnapping of the nobleman, Marx, and his wife and daughter. Akerian, your entire village has been charged with harboring a traitor." Aknankanon said.
"We did-" Akerian started.
"I never-" Lydia began.
"Silence!" Aknankanon ordered.
Lydia and Akerian immediately shut up.
"I did ask you to tell your story. When I ask for your comments, you can tell them. Until then, you will remain silent." Aknankanon said.
Yugi looked at Lydia and frowned. 'It seems impossible, but this Lydia looks a great deal like Vivian. I wonder if they are related.' Yugi thought.
"Bring in Marx and Nadine." Aknankanon ordered.
Two guards escorted Marx and Nadine into the room.
When Marx and Nadine reached the throne, they both kneeled before the throne.
"Marx. Nadine. I want you to tell us what you know of this." Aknankanon said.
"My Pharaoh, my wife and I are nobles, but we choose to live near the outskirts of the kingdom. One day, we were attacked, and our guards could do nothing to stop them. My wife, my daughter, and I were taken captive. We were taken the village that is led by Akerian." Marx said.
"He lies!" Akerian shouted.
"Do not speak again!" Aknankanon snapped. He looked at Marx and said, "Continue."
"At the village, my wife and daughter were taken to an underground cell that I could not reach. It was then that the woman called Lydia gave me an ultimatum." Marx said.
"What was the ultimatum?" Aknankanon asked.
"I could either come here and kill Prince Yugi for her, or she would force me to watch as her men raped and murdered my wife and four-year old daughter." Marx said.
"He's lying! I never did that!" Lydia cried.
Aknankanon had had enough of these interruptions. "Gag them!" Aknankanon ordered.
The guards stuffed gags into Akerian and Lydia's mouths to silence them.
"Marx, do you know why Lydia wanted Yugi killed?" Aknankanon asked.
"No. I do not." Marx said.
"And do you, Nadine?" Aknankanon asked.
"As a prisoner there, I heard a few things. Apparently, Lydia's husband and daughter were executed, and she blamed Prince Heba for their deaths. She wanted my husband to kill Prince Yugi in order to hurt Prince Heba." Lydia said.
"And why did the village give her aid?" Aknankanon asked.
"As I understood it, the village just hated Prince Heba and Prince Yugi for their own reasons, so they gladly helped this woman just out of the hatred that they felt for them." Nadine said.
"Is that so?" Aknankanon asked, turning his attention to Akerian and Lydia.
Both prisoners looked scared now.
"The deaths of your husband and daughter couldn't have been Heba's fault. He doesn't even know you. No one has been executed since-" Aknankanon started.
"That's it!" Yugi suddenly exclaimed.
All eyes turned to Yugi.
"Yugi, what do you mean?" Aknankanon asked, knowing that Yugi wouldn't have interrupted unless it was important.
"I know who this woman's husband and daughter were and why she blamed Heba." Yugi said.
"What is the reason?" Atemu asked.
"This woman is Wong's wife and Vivian's mother. No one has been executed since them." Yugi said.
Realization hit them all.
"You are the wife and mother to those two!" Aknankanon shouted.
Lydia looked defiant. She wasn't about to lose.
"It makes sense. When I saw Lydia, I thought that she looked like Vivian. Hearing it was because of her husband's and daughter's execution cinched it." Yugi said.
"It does make sense now." Aknankanon agreed.
At Aknankanon's motion, Lydia's gag was taken out.
"So what if I am Wong's wife and Vivian's mother?! What happened to them was unjust!" Lydia shouted.
Aknankanon's eyes darkened. "Your daughter claimed that my son Atemu impregnated her when it was a lie." Aknankanon said.
"My daughter deserved to be queen! Not that damned slut the Prince married!" Lydia shouted.
Atemu was livid. "How dare you! Your daughter got pregnant by that corrupt councilman and lied saying it was mine. I never touched that slut!" Atemu growled. He looked at Lydia with such rage that Lydia flinched. "And Heba is not a slut! He has been with no one other than me." Atemu growled.
"You have said quite enough, Lydia. An assassination attempt on Yugi's life is an immediate death sentence!" Aknankanon said.
"And what about my husband and daughter?! They were unjustly executed!" Lydia shouted.
Yugi had a thought. "Pharaoh, have the guards keep her restrained. We need to know if she knew of the plot from the beginning." Yugi said.
Aknankanon nodded and ordered the guards to hold Lydia tightly.
Yugi walked down the steps to Lydia.
"Stay away from me!" Lydia growled.
Yugi ignored her and touched her face.
Lydia tried to move away, but couldn't.
Yugi moved back away from her. "Lydia more than knew of the plot for Vivian to become pregnant by Aman and then claim that Atemu was the one who got her pregnant. In fact, Lydia was the one that convinced Wong and Vivian to go through with the plan in the first place." Yugi said.
"No! He's lying!" Lydia cried.
"Do not call him a liar! You are in position to do so!" Aknankanon growled.
Yugi returned to his place by the throne.
"Where was she when everything happened?" Amara asked.
"Under the guise of visiting her ailing mother, Lydia left. She lied to Vivian and Wong because she feared that things might go wrong, and she wanted to be able to exonerate herself if necessary by claiming she knew nothing since she was with her mother at the time everything happened. That's why she never made an appearance." Yugi said.
"Then where was she really?" Seth asked.
"In hiding. With her lover." Yugi said.
"Like mother, like daughter." Yami said.
Lydia glared.
When Aknankanon motioned for Akerian's gag to be removed, the guard removed it.
"Do you have anything to say, Akerian?" Aknankanon asked.
"No, Pharaoh." Akerian said. 'Damn that Yugi! He took away my only chance to live.' Akerian thought.
"Given that you are the head of the village, you were the one that convinced the village to help Lydia. I also know that you were in on the attempt to rape my son-in-law had Yugi been the one to go. Therefore, you are going to be executed along with Lydia." Aknankanon said.
"But the village-" Akerian thought.
"Will live the rest of their days in the stone mines. They will be mining until they die. The children, however, will be given to families that have no children to raise them the right way. Any child under thirteen will be given that chance. Anyone over that will face the same sentence as the adults. You were their leader, so you were the one that decided to aid Lydia, which is why you will suffer death as well." Aknankanon said.
"How will they die?" Sereth asked.
"That will be decided later. Until then, they will be kept under constant guard." Aknankanon said.
"And what of Marx? He still tried to kill Yugi." Lydia sneered.
Aknankanon's eyes narrowed. "Do not speak of him in such a way, and Marx is not your concern. Take them out of here!" Aknankanon ordered.
The guards took Lydia and Akerian from the room.
"Marx, I have taken into consideration everything that happened. I can understand why you did what you did for your wife's sake as well as your daughter's, and you did aid us in finding Lydia and telling us what you did know of them." Aknankanon said. He looked at the rest of the people in the court before he said, "I cannot let this go unpunished, though. Therefore, for the next five years, you will be working in hard labor here in the palace." Aknankanon said.
"Here?" Marx asked.
"Yes. You will be working under Marik and Bakura on any task that you are assigned. Your wife and daughter will also be allowed to remain here with you in the palace until your five years have been served. After your sentence has been carried out, you will be allowed to leave the palace. Given the circumstances, I have chosen not to strip you and your family of your title, but suspend it. Until your sentence is finished, you will not have the class if noble, though once you leave, you will be given that title back." Aknanaknon said.
"Thank you, Pharaoh. You are most generous." Marx said.
"Very well. Marik and Bakura will take charge of you after Lydia and Akerian have been executed." Aknankanon said.
"Yes, Pharaoh." Marx said.
A guard led Marx and his wife out.
"Mahado. Karim. Shada. Seth. In the morning, you will start moving all the adults except for Akerian to the stone mines. I will decide how Lydia and Akerian will die later." Aknankanon said.
"Yes, Pharaoh." the four priests said.
"This meeting is adjourned." Aknanaknon said.
Everyone left the throne room.
"Wasn't the Pharaoh kind of easy on Marx?" Jou asked.
"Yeah. I thought that it would have been harsher than that." Atemu asked.
"He was easier on him because I asked him to be." Yugi said.
"Why?" Yami demanded.
"Yami, if someone threatened to have me and our child and raped and murdered, what would you have done?' Yugi asked.
"Whatever they wanted." Yami immediately replied.
"Exactly. That's what Marx did. He was protecting his family. He did what anyone else here would have done." Yugi said.
"Yugi makes a point. I think that anyone in this room would have done that." Bakura said.
"That's why I asked him to be easier on him. I knew that Marx couldn't get off that easily, so I asked for him to get a lighter sentence." Yugi said.
"You don't expect us to go easy on him, do you?" Marik asked.
"I expect you to treat him fairly. I know that he is genuinely sorry for what he did. All I have to do is think of that little girl to forgive him." Yugi said.
"Yugi's right. He was saving his family. He can't be faulted for that." Yami said.
"Well, I guess everything worked out right then." Marik said.
"I can't believe that I got off that easily." Marx said.
"The Pharaoh is truly a generous and merciful man." Nadine said.
"Not entirely." Aknankanon said.
The two instantly bowed to him.
"Stand." Aknankanon said.
The two stood to face Aknankanon and Amara.
"I was not entirely generous. I was going to have you stripped of your title and work ten years in labor." Aknankanon said.
"May I ask why the change then? I deserved it for what I did." Marx said.
"Yes, you did." Aknankanon agreed.
"You have Yugi to thank for the lighter sentence." Amara said.
"Yugi?" Nadine asked.
"Yes. He asked me to go easy on Marx. He knew that you were genuinely sorry for what you did, and that you didn't want to do it in the first place. He asked that I only suspend you title until your sentence is served and that you only serve five years. Given that he was the one that was attacked and asked, I decided to grant his request." Aknankanon said.
"I believe that I owe Prince Yugi a great debt." Marx said.
"Yes. You can thank next time that you see him." Aknankanon said.
"And also at Yugi's request, it will not be made publicly known that you tried to kill him. It will remain only known to the members of the court." Amara said.
"We both owe him a great deal." Nadine said.
"Yugi's a one-of-a-kind person." Amara said.
"I guess you didn't save yourself like you thought." Lydia sneered.
"Shut up! It's not like you're any better off!" Akerian snapped.
"Maybe, but you thought that you would expose my secret, ad you didn't." Lydia said.
"Yes, but it doesn't change the fact that they know you are elated to that whore and traitor." Akerian snapped.
"Shut up! My Vivian is still the rightful queen!" Lydia snapped.
"Well, she's dead, so there's nothing you can do, although I believe that you will be seeing her again soon." Akerian said.
Lydia glared. She couldn't believe that her plan had fell apart.
Hope that you liked it. I know a lot of people wanted Marx to have a lighter sentence, so I hope this was light enough.
Next: The way Lydia and Akerian die will be decided and carry out. (Feel free to say how you want them to die. I'll look into it.)
R&R.