Yu-Gi-Oh: A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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Set didn't want to say they were dead, or that this was hopeless. But he didn't see a way they could survive this situation anymore. There were mounted horses milling around the Pharaoh's half of the encampment like a monstrous ants. The red hue of the flames gave these vile humans less human like features, making them strangely indistinguishable from their mounts. Almost as though they wanted to be viewed as possible monsters to scare the soldiers protecting the Pharaoh.
But Mahaado needed to be healed and as much as he didn't like turning away from the Pharaoh there was no way the small group could reach them. At least if he could get Mahaado out of this terrible field, the mage could heal himself. From there they could hunt down whatever was sealing magics or just let Mahaado long range cast against the bulk of the forces hovering outside the beleaguered encampment.
He looked up to see if the Kurr was still in the air and there was the little fuzz, looking down at them from its elevated height. Even going so far as to wave to Set as though to say 'Hello friend!'
Set shook his head and gestured for it to return to them, even as he turned his horse away from the Pharaoh. Meaning he was now partly facing the Prince who looked mildly confused, his eyes going between Set and towards where his daddy's main tent was. Shaking his head Set gave an apologetic, "forgive me Prince, but I must see to your protection first."
The Kurr arrived about that point, purring as it swooped into Set's line of sight, looking as confused as the prince.
"Can you lead us safely past the enemies? Mahaado needs to heal himself," Set asked hurriedly, as a soldier tried to charge at the group, sword raised. Only to be run through by a Kurr that had a long sharp pointed horn atop its head.
The Kurr bobbed up and down while turning and, interestingly enough, headed towards where a number of soldiers stood cloistered together. It rose up as it approached, but stayed stubbornly on its course, an action that made Set wary of following until he realized no one was reacting. Everyone among Set's small group could see the Kurrs and reacted accordingly, yet this group seemed to have no reaction.
With no other option Set reached out and grabbed the reins from the prince who was doing more to hold on than Mahaado was. "Prince hold on to Maha," he instructed as urged the horses into a steady trot. The prince responded by wrapping his arms around Mahaado's so the mage's arms were resting over the princes' shoulders loosely.
A light wind danced over the sands of the desert ruffling the fabric of the soldiers, yet the closer they got the lack of reaction made Set grow more confident. Amazed that what was the soul of a very small child apparently picked up on some decoy soldiers. Embolden by this realization and mounting confidence in the Kurr, Set picked up the speed towards the decoys. The sound of the horses hooves pounding upon the sand served as an almost hypnotic comfort as the sounds of battle fell behind them. While before them he was starting to be able to make out the poles the decoys were built upon, and while there 'were' forces behind these fake attackers. They were no where near the numbers to be a solid threat against the Pharaoh's group.
They just had to get far enough away for Mahaado to be able to heal himself and then they could return. The two remaining questions though was 'where' was this strange seal that was shutting down Mahaado's magics and how far out did they have to go before they were out of range? Though he took comfort that the prince wasn't crying about Mahaado. While Mahaado might have stopped gripping the reins, he must have still been awake enough to reassure the prince.
Though now that they were riding, it finally made its way to the front of his mind that he didn't know how the Kurrs got summoned. Sure the Prince could summon his friend, but no one could see the Kurrs before when the Prince summoned his friend. How was it possible that they could both be visually seen 'and' actively able to do something?
"Lord Prince?" Set inquired as he draped his left arm around Mana's neck to give her another hug to remind her he was there.
"Hmm?"
"Did you invite the Kurrs to join in like this?"
"Umhmm bad people make Kurr mama an papa cry. Though Kurr want have say!" the Prince explained as he began playing with the horses' mane, running his tiny fingers through it.
The phrase 'you realize what you did is considered impossible' crossed Set's mind, but then got pushed aside. Because if anything, he knew the Prince wouldn't either understand or comprehend how incredible his stunt was. Saying instead; "you realize that all our soldiers are going to have to live with the fact that they got saved by something hacked up by a cat for the rest of their lives? Right?" Set asked as he looked about the landscape.
There were people moving about both on horseback and on foot, sparsely about the area that he could see. Large plums of smoke rose behind them and whatever glow of the battle couldn't do enough to illuminate the enemies. Even as the prince gave a confused sound asking about what 'hacked' meant, Set found himself on guard. Several horses looked to be directed to approach the quartet and Mahaado was still injured.
"Ook!" The prince chirped out, sounding happy and causing Set to turn to see what the Prince was looking at. Which turned out to be Mahaado's spellbook, it wasn't solid, Set could easily see through it, but it 'was' there. A clear sign that they approaching the limits of whatever was sealing Mahaado's power away.
Meaning if they kept in the direction they were going, and move out fast enough, Mahaado could start using his healing items. Even if it meant making it blatantly obvious that they weren't soldiers Set finally made his call and took the chance. Coaxing the pair of horses to move a bit faster, and further away from the encampment.
"Papa get mad... We need go to papa..." The prince pointed out, realizing they were moving 'away' from the group. Which apparently meant he figured that, before, they were taking a long way around given the battles going on at the camp. But also showing the prince was able to put two and two together and he was starting to get upset. "Papa get mad! Seth!"
"He won't get mad," Set replied, keeping an eye out and hoping that the others wouldn't go into a full run on their horses while he was forced to keep a modest pace. Between Mahaado not holding on to anything with his hands, and the fact that the horse was just too close. If Mahaado slipped he could end up falling between the two horses and he'd take the prince with him like it or not.
"Yes! Yes! Papa get mad! Papa mad Maha hurt! No hurt Maha!" The Prince got louder and his voice began cranking up in anxiety. Going so far as to grab at the reins, he might not have been able to compel a horse to move, but this one 'was' in motion. It wouldn't take much for him to turn the horse around and go back to the encampment.
"Look Prince, we're only going far enough away so Maha can get his spell book out. The bad people hurt him really badly and he needs to be healed!" Set argued as he felt the increased yanking from the prince on the reins.
"Maha hurt?" The prince echoed the only words that mattered to him at the moment, releasing the reins on the horse as he looked up at Maha.
While below Set's own head, Mana began fidgeting, "Maha hur?" she echoed the Princes' words, associating his tone and the word itself to mean something bad. She began to sound anxious herself and began trying to crawl into Sets' arms.
"No Mana, you stay right there, they'll be fine so long as we can get everyone safely out of the range of... none of this is making any sense to you huh? Just be patient..." Set didn't like being reminded that he should respect Mahaado's patience. But a glance at the mage and the spellbook was showing increasing presence. "Hold on Mahaado, we'll be out of that seal soon enough. Don't you give up!"
"No lose Maha!"
They kept on the move when Set heard the sound of a pronounced thud as a book shut, and the swirl of light beside him alerted his full attention. With his attention on Mahaado he watched as the magician called forth his spellbook with magic. The book fell open on some seemingly random page before snapping shut again. The 'dust' was thrown up into the air only to swirl around Mahaado as though the stars above came down to him.
On the plus side, Mahaado began sitting up properly and while one hand was used to hold the spellbook when it appeared, the other began reaching for the reins. "Now I kind of understand how my old master felt." Mahaado commented as his spellbook was snapped shut again.
"How?" Set asked not really listening as he now was free of manning Mahaado's mount, thus he kicked his own mount into a faster pace.
"I slit his throat in my attempt to escape from the camp and bring the prince back to his family," Mahaado nonchalantly explained as he kicked his own horse into keeping up with Set. All the while sending the book away one last time before grabbing the reins in both hands.
Because that's what you do when you want to escape a bad situation, or make Set fall off his horse as he tried to process that. Just try to imagine Mahaado, in his slender demure build and personality back when Set first met the guy... slit a throat. For in Set's world Mahaado by nature would have politely woken up his master and politely asked if he could perform such a task.
Seriously, when Set tried to imagine the conversation it went a little like 'Excuse me Master, may I slit your throat?' Like that would work at all, yet Mahaado was here so apparently what he did 'actually' worked.
But nope, apparently he befriended a little asp, because he could 'not' reconcile the mental image of Mahaado slitting anyone's throat.
"Whatever, now that you're not bleeding out, we need to get back to the Pharaoh," Set finally as he continued moving forward.
"Which is why we're heading 'away' from our Pharaoh because..." Mahaado asked, before glancing behind him. "Oh, I see, never mind, I'll deal with them."
Set felt his eyebrow go up as he studied the landscape in case there were more unwelcomed surprises. Behind him there was a sudden pronounced explosion causing him to glance to see what that magician did.
Illusionary Magician was soaring along side Mahaado, backwards while sending blast of energy in the darkness of the night. But that wouldn't last for long, Set could already see the hint of Ra about to rise in the east. Victory over the demons through the night and now all he had to do was secure the protection of the Prince for his own victory.
The startled cries from their pursuer was reassuring as Set began altering the path of the horse back towards the encampment. But for now... "Maha do you know what would have been used to seal up your magics as they had? So I know what to look out for?"
"If there are no spell casters on their side already, then it would be an item which we don't have time to find I would suspect." Mahaado answered before giving a thoughtful, "however; if its been stationary it means that the item is not being moved around. If that's the case I could just blow everything up including that hopefully."
"You blow stuff up?" Set asked stunned at the statement, first the casual acknowledgment that Maha slit throats as a child and now that he could make things explode.
Don't trust the quiet ones.
That was going to be the new motto Set had when it came to magicians.
"Yes, when I feel compelled and we have a problem," Maha replied and Set no longer trusting the calm tone that Mahaado used to speak with.
"What now?" Set asked as he turned around to check on the mage only to see the 'problem'. "What? Did they realize the Pharaoh was so well guarded they opted for us?" He asked incredulously at the solid line moving towards them.
"Well we are a small group, they are many..." Mahaado noted as an arrow went whizzing by between the two of them. "And they're shooting at us."
"Anything else want to go wrong?" Set groaned...
"Wee wee..." Mana announced. "Nee wee wee..."
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Set took a deep pull of water from the oasis while Mahaado went about fussing over the pair of kids to make sure the Prince and Mana both had something to drink. The sun was fully above the horizon riding to the center of the beautiful blue sky. Desert winds danced along the sands, not enough to rip the grains into the air and strike them. Yet enough to cool the sweat on his skin as the two horses walked over and arched their own heads down to take a drink.
This wasn't a good day though, despite how beautiful and clear the sky was, the situation wasn't the greatest. The oasis was not in either direction to the temple where the Kurrs' Tablets were to be stored, or the direction back to the capital city. Driven between the two locations and neither teen had a map to figure out where the safest place to go was.
"I don't know if there's any valid point to me using illusions anymore," Mahaado finally began speaking once the pair of children had settled a bit, not that they weren't looking to eagerly play around. With no visible threat around them, the pair were quickly easing into a more typical, playful mood. Leaving the duty of looking after their safety up to the two older kids.
Set turned to give Mahaado his attention as he mentally gauged how much was enough water before pulling the horses away. If he could be confident that they were no longer being pursued, he would have let the horses drink their fill. But with the still hanging threat he couldn't chance them getting sick. Somehow the forces seemed to increase over time rather than lessen, and it was only because of one of Mahaado's spells that their pursuers were being redirected.
"I've used several spells of redirection, and they 'have' fallen for each of them, but that they are realizing and finding us again so quickly? They may not have a real magician in their numbers, but they 'do' have someone, or maybe several, who know how to use magical items." Mahaado voiced his thoughts for the first time since the last leg of their ride to this oasis, his calm voice and demeanor probably the only thing keeping the kids settled.
After all if Maha didn't sound worried or upset, why should they? Right?
"How long do we have left?" Set asked and watched as Mahaado answered by turning his attention to the water that stretched out before them.
Mahaado closed his eyes for a moment, before giving a wave of his right hand over towards the water. When he opened his eyes he looked into the water before them, thus redirecting Set's focus to the water as well.
Before them, as though from the eyes of a hawk, they could see their pursers moving onward, though Set couldn't get a grasp of where these people 'were' before Mahaado lowered his hand and began guiding Mana back to Set.
"They're coming this way, I focused the spell on the last illusion, for which they are moving 'away' from instead of 'after'. Also the sun is casting a shadow in the same direction as the shadows on us meaning they have to be heading this way."
Set shook his head with a sigh before gathering Mana up into his arms.
"Nooo! Nooo! Wanna play!" Mana argued and he could only give her a sympathetic hug as he prepared to mount his own horse.
"I know Mana, I'm sorry but we need to go 'now'." Set apologized while Mahaado could be heard speaking quietly to the prince as they also mounted up. Even his own legs were starting to get sore from all the stress based riding he had been forced to endure. The saddle wasn't meant for such a young child like Mana to be stuck riding. The saddle was meant for speed and battle, not social occasions where you could place a little one. Though... "Hey Maha..."
