A/N So I figured I'd treat you guys with a new chapter this week. Especially as I won't be able to write this weekend. (work and judging at a convention's cosplay competition) ALSO because I've been looking forward to writing this chapter since I started this fic.

Chapter 11

Loki was a little numbed by the news. Somewhere up there a god was handing out favors, maybe thinking all the bad things were enough for one lifetime and maybe, maybe, Loki deserved some more. Thor deserved more and that's why Loki was given this chance to free him. If the palace was crowded by people like Paia, he'd fear in what state he'd find Thor.

Around him everyone was celebrating the good news. Loki would laugh and talk with anyone that would come up to him but he was in a daze. He walked away from the group of overly happy entertainers to find a little quiet behind one of the tents. He sits down on a crate. He'd have to plan everything, he'd have to smuggle in a knife for Thor, so he had something to protect himself. Unless he was made a guard and had a sword to begin with. What if Thor wasn't in the room he'd perform, what then? Would he need to try and find him? Would he know where to go? What if he had to force the answer from one of the guards, would he dare go that far? His thoughts were interrupted when, just like always, Natakhta creeped up on him.

"Are you alright, Loki?" she softly asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, more than fine, I'm just thinking about things." Loki said, pinching the space between his eyebrows.

"You look tired… maybe it's best if you'd return home?" Natakhta offered. "We only have a few days left to practice, so it's best if we put everything into it. Best if you don't get sick."

Loki nodded, this made perfect sense. By the end of the week, four days, they'd be in the palace. Loki decided there and then he'd focus on the performance and he'd see what he'd do once he was inside.

ooOOoo

Vali was content with how his plan was working out. He'd get Loki in, he'd recognize Obediah as the one walking with the man that murdered the previous pharaoh and things will work from there. Obediah and him had never seen eye to eye, but Vali noticed how the last few years the man was starting to crave the one thing he couldn't have. The throne. He'd seen how he'd ruined lives, how he'd plan an assassination on the man that had dragged the both of them out of the mud. Except Vali was still thankful while Obediah clearly wasn't.

Once, when Vali was still young he was an outcast from lands far from Egypt. He had looked a little too long and intense at the ruler's daughter. And though he was the best royal guard the man had in his employment, he was cast out without remorse. He had been attacked by so many robbers, thieves and murderers on his way to Egypt, he had grown weak. When he stumbled upon a young man, without means to survive, who tried to steal his spoils from a hunt, instead of punishing him, he took pity in him. They traveled further together, living from the hunt. One day they found themselves amidst hungry crocodiles, fighting for their life, when the prince at that time saved them with a single arrow piercing the crocodile's eye. The momentum gave the both of them a chance to escaped to higher ground. The prince had admired their fight with the wild animals and taken them in. He grew to be the pharaoh, Vali became the master of arms while the young man, Obediah showed interest in the gods, and was appointed high priest the same year the prince was crowned a pharaoh.

The previous pharaoh always said how getting them in his court was the best thing he'd ever done.

Vali shook his head, if only he had known what snake they had both fallen for. Vali was shamed he had ever wandered with Obediah. How ungrateful the man was.

Vali felt bad for using Loki to bait Obediah, but it must be done, for the sake of the new pharaoh.

ooOOoo

Stieth was trying to talk Loki out of the foolishness.

The first day he told Loki to stay in bed, as he was still a bit weak from being ill the previous day and the shocking news.

The second day he couldn't stop Loki from going to practice with Natakhta, but he kept going on about how he'd throw away his life, wasn't it better to wait, use this opportunity to see how Thor was doing and go another time, better prepared in to set him free. If he'd use force to set Thor free he'd only brand them both as a traitor and they'd be chased by every guard in all of Egypt.

Loki kept replying how this was his choice, Thor would do the same for him and how he probably would never ever set foot in the palace again and this was his only chance.

The third day Stieth was silent, but the silent treatment was only worse for Loki. Loki had hoped Stieth would understand, which the man kept telling him he did, but he was going to be alone on this. Which was fine by Loki, as he didn't want to drag the man into this. He had a wife and kid to think about. Last thing Loki wanted was to get the family that had taken him in in danger on his account. So he told them nothing.

Later that evening Peghee asked him to come downstairs for supper. Loki had had his last practice with Natakhta earlier that day and he was still pretty tired. He would go to bed early, but the supper with the family was something he wouldn't miss for the world. It may be very well the last supper he would have with the three people he cared for almost as much as he did for his brother. When he was downstairs Peghee and Bukhee revealed they had been preparing a feast all day. And a feast it was, you could feed half the slums with what they had put on the table and Loki could feel his mouth water at the sight. Stieth looked happy, Loki figured he may have dropped the issue.

"Let us enjoy this meal, as tomorrow the pharaoh will be crowned. He is known to be more compassionate then his predecessor, so that bodes well. Tomorrow we will wake up early to witness the parade to the temple." Peghee said.

A pang of guilt. "I have to go with the group to the palace early in the morning, to prepare the dance in the evening." He said.

"Oh…" Peghee said, masking her disappointment. "Very well then. I only wish we could see it as well!"

Loki smiled. "It's going to be amazing! If everything goes well tonight, I'll be sure to perform for you if I can persuade Natakhta to join me!" They all smiled about that.

Making future plans, even if tomorrow things could go horribly wrong, was probably the best to do right now. So they celebrated, feasted and enjoyed that evening.

ooOOoo

Tony was nervous. And Tony rarely was nervous. He had the ego the size of a hippo, according to Pepper. Tomorrow was his big day, he had remembered his speech well, the parade was settled, the entertainment was dealt with, the food and drinks all arranged (by Pepper, of course, Tony wouldn't trust anyone else to arranged all that, so he had ordered his cooks to take every order she'd give) Obediah had only objected once and that was with the placing of guards later that evening, when the dance was held. "It will give a wrong signal, sire, if you place someone who was accused of betrayal at a feast so important." He had said.

"Accused by you, found innocent." Tony said, sternly. Obediah had been going on and on about how he still mistrusted the blonde guard.

"Allow me to point out a few guards for you, sire." Obediah had offered. This is where Vali stepped in, the man had been silent the whole time.

"No, as master of arms, I think it would suit me more, don't you agree, High Priest Obediah?" Vali had said, emphasizing the fact a priest should have nothing to do with appointing anything else then priests.

"I agree, proceed then, Vali" Tony had offered, after which he decided it was time for him to go and sleep. "Well you two, big day tomorrow, don't mind me if I go and sleep. Must be a record, no alcohol and before midnight, who would've thought that?" Tony left. Vali and Obediah looked at each other intensely before they both went in different directions as well. Vali had a lot to arrange and arguing with Obediah was like convincing a donkey to walk backwards. Vali rubbed the temples of his head as he walked out of the palace. He was starting to get too old for this.

ooOOoo

The day of the crowning started out great, as the sky was clear, the sun out, but not too bright and hot and so standing in line to catch a glimpse of the pharaoh was not unpleasant. Not weather wise. The pushing and pulling people were annoying so Stieth and Peghee decided that for Bukhee's safety it would be best if they stood a little in the back. They enjoyed the parade and as they walked back to their house they hoped Loki would have all the luck in the world on his side.

ooOOoo

Tony had managed to wrestle himself through his make-up, hair, speech by all the important people in the palace at the moment, his parade to the temple, the boring and extreme long speech Obediah had, which he was sure Obediah did just to annoy Tony, and the way back to the palace. His speech had apparently inspired all the people to go out and celebrate. Then again, that was exactly what Tony had said at the end of the speech. He had made sure there was plenty of beer around to do exactly that. By tomorrow everyone would know not better than they had celebrated Hathor's festival the day before. Now Tony was on his way to his own banquet and he only hoped Vali knew what he had been doing when he organized that. Vali being an old man, Tony expected something dull. To make things worse because Obediah had made such a point about it, Thor would not be there to celebrate with him and any chance to get the man drunk was therefor out of the window. Another time then, Tony said, smirking. When he arrived at the hall, he was impressed by the decorations, done by the entertainment group that would perform that night, he was told by none other than Rhodey. Vali had gone out of his way to get Rhodey as main guard for the evening, which annoyed Obediah greatly, as was visible. Pepper was organizing all the food and drinks, helped by beautiful and exotic looking people, Pepper told him came from the entertainment group as well. Everyone seemed to be impressed and Tony gave a pat on his master of arms' shoulder. "You did great Vali. I expected something boring, but this promises something!"

Before Vali was able to respond a man in a Greek toga entered the hall, walked to the middle with much flair earning him the attention of everyone in the hall.

"Goodevening ladies and gentlemen, I would ask you all to take a seat and make yourself comfortable. We have a show planned for tonight, we hope you will never forget. My name is Colloson, and it is my honor to present to you our leader, Fury." The man stepped aside, holding his arms to the side where a man with dark skin entered. He looked impressive, mysterious and dangerous at the same time. Tony was pretty sure he was called Fury for the same reason he had an eyepatch, and had nothing to do with the ghastly creatures from Greek mythology his teachers always rambled on about. Unless of course he lost the eye taking down ten of those things, as Tony was sure the man could.

"Goodevening. I'm a man of few words but alas, I must bore you all with a few regardless. It's my honor to entertain our new pharaoh. A young man with a bright future, we can all expect a many great things from him, I'm sure. In honor of his crowning we have tried to make perfect performances. The people you will see tonight quite literally come from all over the place. So please enjoy and don't hesitate to get our servants attention to fill your cup and plate." The two men left the middle of the hall and everyone at the tables that were put in a big circle between the pillars that supported the palaceroof, craned their necks to see what was going to happen.

Some gasped in surprise as a few acrobats came, as Fury had said, quite literally from all over the place. Between the fabric that was draped here and there, from under the table, windows and doors, everywhere. The men were all dressed in blacks, with golden trims, while the women wear mostly sheer fabric, except on strategic places, in fiery colors ranging from gold to a crimson red. Their clothing left barely anything to the imagination and when Tony looked around he could see the group was already a hit. When girls dressed like that came from behind the pillars with drinks and food everyone was clearly enjoying the show already. Except Obediah, who wished Tony a pleasant evening. ('he could at least look like he meant it' Tony thought as he saw the man leave)

Tony had seen so many performances in his life though, that though he was amused, he was not impressed.

He did smile and laugh at the jokes Colloson, accompanied by a lovely Greek woman named Hillena, who according to the Greek man had traveled all her way to Egypt just for the performance, to honor him.

He also grinned nervously as a man called Hawkeye shot at everything Tony pointed at, missing not one of the targets. He would have a talk with Vali on recruiting the man. He could be very valuable. Vali though, as if reading his mind, came over to tell him Hawkeye was a notorious thief, though Fury had guaranteed him nothing would be stolen by Hawkeye that evening, according to him, Hawkeye was mostly harmless and didn't enjoy the life of a thief at all.

All in all Tony truly enjoyed the evening and he was almost sad Hawkeye announced their last act. He shot three arrows, flaming, into the floor in the middle of the hall, and three onto three targets hanging from the ceiling. Multiple drapes, two red and two black, were pulled down, so four of them formed a square, obscured by view, in the middle. There were torches placed all around, leaving a blazing arena for whatever was to come. This got Tony's attention.

A slow beat began, followed by an instrument Tony couldn't quite place and he waited with anticipation on whoever was going to perform. Seeing no movement at all he almost got disappointed, until someone a few tables away gasped and pointed upwards.

Dangling on one of the four drapes was a beautiful, exotic looking woman. She was wearing fiery red clothes, adorned with golden beads, and had a golden crown placed in her bright red hair. Tony had never before seen someone with red hair and he was, to put it mildly, very interested. She slid down the drapes to the floor and started to dance around the drapes, as graceful as a djinn. She took one of the torches in one hand, and grasped another with her empty hand and danced with them. Tony was impressed and paying attention. She circled around twice, so that everyone had seen her. Her dance was slow and drove some men mad, Tony could see. She would have to fight them off at the end, he was sure. She ended in front of Tony, holding the torches next to her, on one knee, her head bowed down. Just before Tony wanted to applaud, the drums picked up the pace and what came down one of the black drapes made Tony's heart pick up the pace as well. Curious brown eyes met with emerald green ones.

A/N And I'm sorry, but I'll leave you guys with that. I'll upload ASAP! Let me know what you guys think! ^_^