AN: FINALLY have this chappie finished! It goes without saying that I write character interactions and slow-burn suspense much better than I do play-by-play action scenes. This is just a short chapter to wrap up the first contest.

I did zero research on how ancient Egyptians actually dealt with concussions, so Naunet's approach to testing Kay for symptoms might seem weirdly modern. I wanted to acknowledge the injury instead of him just shrugging it off, and I wanted yet another contrast in how Layla raised Kay versus how seriously the royal court takes injuries.

Managed to sneak some vaseshipping goodness in there towards the end.

Wanted to bring the lioness back. Decided on a really trippy nightmare instead. Don't worry, she's returning. Just feel like the previous few chapters have overused her.

I'm open to any suggestions about what the next contest should be. I have a few plot-centric ones planned (including a diaha - wouldn't be Yu-Gi-Oh without one) but the more extraneous tests... I have no idea :/.

The First Contest, Part Two: The Enemy Of My Enemy

We walked in silence down the stairs leading to the floor of the arena. I could hear the noise of the fight immediately before ours faintly through the wall - the sharp clack of the prop swords, the quick sound of footprints on sand, grunts of effort, and cries of pain.

Seth looked completely confident and composed, which was more than I could say for myself. As much as I tried to force it down, I felt a little fluttering of nervousness. I had never fought in a team before, and never had a crowd to watch when I trained back at home. And this was the first test that affected our placement. If my mission were to continue unimpeded, I had to gain the trust and favor of the Sacred Court members watching.

I had to win.

We emerged in the arena just as the fight was ending, the victorious team ganging up on the sole opponent still standing and knocking him to the dirt, where he lay, flat on his back, panting.

The losing team slowly got up, nursing their wounds and following another guard back up to the seats above to watch.

But if they were bitter towards each other, they didn't show it. "Good fighting back there," and "I'm sure in the next game…" were distinctly heard.

I frowned. While their circumstances weren't as dire as mine, this was still the greatest opportunity they would receive in their lives, and they were already a step behind everyone else.

The winners left much more triumphantly, but on no less friendly terms, clapping each other on the back and congratulating each other.

"Hey, jackal cub!" Seth said, waving his hand in front of my face. "Didn't you hear? We're supposed to take our places now!"

I shook myself out of my thoughts and followed Seth out into the middle of the arena. We were met with cheers from the balcony above us, most notably from where Maahad, Mana, and Kisara were now sitting.

"Good luck!" Kisara called from the balcony with a wave. I saw Maahad distinctly mouth, "You can do it!" and give a thumbs up. Mana went further, practically falling over the railing in her frantic attempts to wave her arms and get my attention.

"You got this, Kay! I believe in you!" she cried. Because it was Mana, her cry was at least a third percent louder than everyone else's, loud enough surrounding spectators were giving her askance looks, but she didn't seem to care. My face felt hot when those same people looked at me questioningly.

Seth sending me a knowing smirk from his place a few feet away from me didn't help. What does he know about Mana that I don't? And why does it always seem to come up in relation to me?

I forced myself to focus on our opponent team - a young woman and a young man who I had seen briefly around the castle. The girl had her hair tied back with a length of cloth tied in a bow and the boy's head was shaved apart from a ponytail, and his face was marked with tattoos. The girl looked scared as she was handed a prop sword. Her teammate was infuriatingly unreadable, keeping himself composed and even taking a few practice swings at the air when he got his weapon.

Both Seth and I met eyes, and I knew we were thinking the same thing - the boy was going to be the problem.

Lord Aknamkanon stood up and stilled the cheering with his hands. "The next match shall be Iry and Shada against Kay and Seth!"

"You better not get in my way," Seth muttered in reminder.

"If you won't get in mine," I replied under my breath.

"Begin!" Lord Aknamkanon commanded.

Immediately, my suspicions were proven right. Shada parried Seth's first swing at him and, when I had the same idea and moved to attack, turned around and blocked me, pushing my blade into Seth's and causing the brunet's grip on his weapon to falter.

His teammate Iry, however, hung back, visibly shaking, her gaze flickering from Seth to me to Shada in alarm.

Seth stepped back, shaking off the failure and fixing his grip.

"I said, don't get in my way," he said sharply. "If you have to do something, go after her!" He nodded his head toward Iry, who eeped in alarm and raised her sword as if that was any threat.

I opened my mouth to protest, after all, Iry looked like she'd barely be an issue. It looked to me like Seth was relegating me to fighting the weak link so he could have the victory of beating Shada to himself.

Seth cut me off. "Both opponents have to be on the ground, jackal-boy! The sooner we do that, the better!"

I didn't have time to continue the argument, because Iry finally summoned all the courage she had and charged at me while I was preoccupied, her scream somewhere between a battle cry and a shriek of terror. Even knowing where she was coming from I barely had time to react and parry her, leaving us locked in a stalemate with our swords for far longer than necessary.

Caught off guard again. Mother would be disappointed.

Iry broke away first, quickly retreating behind Shada again. When I tried to follow her, Shada whirled around and jumped in front of her, striking my sword and then on the back of my hand, trying to loosen my grip on my weapon.

"Are you stupid, Kay!?" Seth said. "Keep them away from each other!"

"I'm trying!" I retorted, stabbing my sword forward, trying to ward Iry back.

"Shada, help!" Iry cried.

Shada's gaze flickered over to his teammate, just as I caught her in another blade lock.

Seth also sprang at Shada. "Oh, no, you don't! Your opponent is me!" The two of them fought back and forth, pushing against each other in a stalemate of their own.

Iry broke our stalemate up and held her sword to her face. Immediately, I saw an opening. She was devoting all her time to protecting her face, not her arms, and, more crucially, not her legs either.

I lunged, dealing a quick strike to the back of her knuckles where I knew it would be the most painful. Iry squealed in pain and loosened her grip on her sword, and another blow to her hands caused the sword to go flying out of her grasp. Quickly, I darted past her and jabbed my prop sword into the inside of her knee joint, causing her leg to buckle. In an instant she was sprawled on the ground, at first shocked, then quietly crying.

Seth, meanwhile, was still fighting Shada. The other young acolyte seemed to have a sixth sense for knowing where Seth was going to strike and when, blocking him each time, but Seth was just as good at blocking Shada's attacks.

I dove into the fray, aiming for Shada's vulnerable back. However, the attack didn't seem to faze him at all - in fact, within a blink of an eye, Shada had whirled around to attack me back.

"Not bad, getting rid of the girl," Seth said. "But you're not going to be able to defeat him that easily."

I scowled, shoving with all my strength to keep Shada off of me in our stalemate. There were times being small came with drawbacks, and this was one of them. Shada was not only taller than me, it was evident he was no stranger to hard physical training. Even more infuriating, he was so difficult to read in comparison to others I'd met that it was impossible for me to predict his movements - as an assassin should have been able to.

I disliked the idea, and I was sure he would loathe it as well, but Seth and I had to fight together if we had any hope of defeating him.

Shada and I broke apart, and began circling each other, looking for an opening. I locked eyes with Seth, who was also searching for a weak point in Shada's apparently impenetrable defenses. I subtly angled my head at Shada, gesturing for Seth to attack at the same time as me. Shada couldn't possibly fend off two people at once!

However, Seth apparently got a completely different message than what I intended, because he charged at Shada immediately, getting to him before I could take more than a few steps. Shada, of course, parried him easily.

Seth scowled. "I can't even hit him," he snarled under his breath.

"It didn't do much, but I managed to hit him earlier while he was occupied fighting with you," I whispered.

"So your plan is to attack at the same time?"

"The exact same time," I replied. "But we need to wait for the right moment - first!" I began, only to shout in alarm as Shada lunged at me.

"Standing over there whispering isn't going to knock me down," Shada said emotionlessly.

I narrowly dodged Shada's attack, and Seth caught Shada's prop blade with his own. Again locked in a stalemate, he gritted his teeth and shoved forward to keep Shada from knocking him back.

"If you have a plan, jackal boy, now would be a very good time!" he shouted at me.

I lifted my sword and charged, striking Shada on the back of the leg as I had done with Iry. Of course, that wouldn't knock him down like it had his teammate, but while he was focused on Seth, it was a good way to unbalance him and free Seth from his stalemate with him. However, as I spun around to attack again, Shada swung his sword.

I heard the sharp clack as the wooden blade struck me in the back of the head, followed by the groans of sympathy from the crowd watching. For an instant, I was numb.

Then stars exploded before my eyes as the blow seemed to register. Blinking to clear away the unpleasant red and green spots and feeling sick and dizzy, I barely slipped out of the way of the next attack. I saw Seth attack Shada and drive him away from me, but it felt hazy and dreamlike.

"Can you still fight?" Seth asked me firmly.

"Yes," I forced out.

"Well, he's tiring out," Seth said "Did you see how easily I was able to distract his attention from you? If you're still set on that 'attack at the same time' plan, it's now or never."

I raised my sword. "Now," I replied.

We charged. Seth went straight for Shada from the front, and I attacked him from the back. Shada, of course, blocked him, but I was behind him, striking him in the legs as many times as I could before he rounded on me. But then Seth was behind him, jabbing the blunt tip of the prop sword into Shada's back. When Shada retaliated against him, I attacked. No matter who Shada fended off, the other was there to attack from behind, and in this way, both of us hammered Shada back into a corner. Then, at the same time, we swung our blades - I jabbed the prop sword into Shada's stomach and Seth swept his legs out from under him.

I straightened, feeling another wave of dizziness come over me that made it almost impossible to hear what Pharaoh Aknamkanon had said.

"The winners of this match are Seth and Kay!"

The explosion of cheers - one louder than the rest that I knew to be Mana's - felt like roaring water in my ears.

"Not bad fighting back there," Seth said. "Don't expect this to become a common thing, though - us working together."

"I won't," I said honestly.

Seth gave me an askance look. "I don't even know if that's the head injury talking or if you genuinely thought I wanted a reply to that. Come on, the contestants after us are probably waiting for us to get out of the arena, and I know the girls are going to drag you off to Naunet to get your head examined."

"My head? Why? Other contestants have hit their heads today."

"Well, that Shada person hit you much harder than even I'd consider normal for a game like this. I think you could hear that stick crack off your skull in the main palace above us."

"I've hit my head worse during training at home," I replied, shaking my head to clear away the dizziness.

Seth's askance look deepened, before he huffed, muttering, "Of course you have," as he walked toward the arena stairs.

Mana and Kisara were already waiting for us.

"Kay!" Mana cried. "Are you alright!? That time where Shada hit you on the head sounds like it hurt really bad!"

"I'm alright, Mana, I've recovered from worse."

"You should at least have Naunet look at it, right? Don't you have to go to her anyway to change out the poultice on your arm and face?"

"Yes, this should be the last time unless the wounds show signs of infection," I said.

"Then ask her about it while you're there! C'mon, please! For me?"

I didn't even have to look at Mana to know she was showing her hypnotic look again, pouting, eyes shining with tears. I was determined not to succumb to it this time, but unfortunately, I had no say in the matter even if I was able to resist.

"Let's go, Kay! If we get back quickly we won't even miss too many of the other matches!" Mana said, grabbing me by the arm.

"It's better to visit her now than have it turn out to hamper your fighting ability later," Kisara reminded me. "Head wounds are unpredictable in that way."

"Alright, alright, I'm - going!" I yelped as Mana yanked me forward by the arm.

"Tell us what we missed when we get back!" Mana called cheerfully over her shoulder to Kisara and Seth as she dragged me out of the diaha hall.

Naunet smiled when she saw me. "Ah, hello there. Kay, was it? You're here to get the poultice changed?"

I nodded.

"Kay got hit in the head really hard during the match today," Mana chimed in.

Naunet looked up from the herbal poultice she had started mixing. "Oh, that's not good. Kay, do you feel dizzy at all? Tired?"

I opened my mouth to deny those things, but Mana elbowed me.

"Yes. Not very much," I added, making it clear I wasn't to be coddled this time.

Naunet looked at me disbelievingly. "Right. Now, sit down. I'm going to cover your eyes for a bit. I want to check something."

I tensed up as Naunet placed a cloth over my face. My vision went dark. For several minutes, I fidgeted, wishing I had my knife, in close, claustrophobic darkness. All the while, I felt Naunet gently apply the poultice to the scratch on my arm. Then, she pulled the cloth off my face to reach the scratch on my cheek. The torchlight stung after several minutes in complete darkness, and I blinked, my vision blurry as my eyes adjusted.

"Hm. Your scratches are healing up nicely. Does your ankle hurt at all anymore?"

"No," I replied.

"Is he okay?" Mana asked.

"Well, I noticed his eyes were slow to react to the torchlight. I'm worried that knock to the head might've done more damage than it appears."

"What does that mean? I've taken harsh blows to the head before," I insisted.

Mana gave me a flat look. "That explains a lot."

Naunet gave her a chastising glance. "I'm sure you won't like to hear this, but I want you to rest for the next few days. No fighting or hard exercise, and try to get up and move around as little as you can. It's a good thing Lord Pharaoh decreed a period of a few days between contests. That means you won't have to miss one."

"When did he say that?" I asked, the jolt of panic I felt at the prospect of being confined to my bed and missing one of the contests being replaced with confusion.

Naunet covered her mouth. "Oh - he intended to announce that after the contests had concluded. Seems he decided the three day rest period before the first one had led to a good deal of progress in the contestants and he hopes for continued improvement. I hope he doesn't mind that I told you a little early," she said with a nervous laugh. "That should be everything."

I stood up, stopping as a wave of dizziness overcame me.

"Good. Mana, we should head back to-hey!" I protested as Mana grabbed me by the arm again. "You heard what Naunet said!" Mana insisted. "You need to rest!"

"I can watch the rest of the contests, can't I?" I retorted. This was going all wrong! I needed to see all the contestants I could and gauge their fighting styles! I couldn't do that consigned to my bed!

"Naunet said not to be up and walking around if you could avoid it," Mana replied. "If it makes you feel better, I'll tell you everything about the matches you missed."

I tried to yank my arm out of her grip, but a surge of dizziness, stronger than before, made me stagger into her, the exact opposite of what I wanted. I felt hot as I realized I was grabbing onto her shoulders for support.

"No arguments," Mana said firmly, looking pink in the face herself.

My protests fell on deaf ears as Mana passed me off to Berenike, who, more sternly than I ever recalled her being, sent me to bed.

"I shall tell Lord Pharaoh why you left the diaha arena," she said. "You aren't the first who was on the receiving end of an excessive amount of force today. The council is considering amending the rules in later games to avoid blows to the head."

I was left alone in my room, tucked into bed like a child, feeling dizzy, with a pounding developing in my head, left with nothing to do but sleep if I didn't want those problems to worsen. The only comfort was that the dizziness and headaches eased when I was lying down.

Somehow, I ended up falling asleep, because I started dreaming.

I wasn't transported to the beautiful temple with the armored lioness, rather, I was taken to a cold, gray space, the oily feel of the Duat closing in around me.

The ground shook, and I whirled around, my mouth drying up in alarm, as I saw an enormous red dragon glaring down at me. Its coils looked long enough to wrap around the entire palace, and even the smaller of its mouths - for it had two, one on top of the other - was large enough to swallow me whole. It roared, and the sound was almost enough to knock me off my feet. I could feel the power pouring off of this creature, and I found myself shaking, frozen in fear, as its impassive yellow eyes locked with mine.

I started running, finding, in the distance, the same armored silhouette I had seen in the vision I shared with Mana. My heart pounding, I sprinted toward that silhouette, instinctively trusting it was the source of safety from the monster behind me.

However, as I ran up to them, the figure raised their sword and shield - and blocked my path. No matter which way I turned, they were in front of me, urging me back.

Back toward the dragon.

The dragon snaked down from the sky toward me, and I froze, terrified, looking into its gaping maw.

I awoke with a start, sitting up and looking around frantically. As the adrenaline drained away, my head started pounding from the abrupt movement - albeit the pain had lessened - and I remembered: during my match with Seth, I had hit my head and had been sent to my room to rest. I found that my knife had been left on my bedside table.

I slumped back into bed, groaning from the pain, and buried my face in my pillow.

A knock again startled me, and I quickly grabbed my knife and unsheathed it as my bedroom door swung open.

"Kay? Are you awake?" Mana asked.

"That jackal cub better be awake, he's been asleep all afternoon," Seth said.

"Seth, Naunet told him he wasn't to leave his bed until he was feeling better!" Kisara scolded from out in the hallway. She entered holding a bowl of fruit and roast duck. "Don't pretend you haven't been worrying about him, too!"

"That was an awful knock he took," Maahad said. "I ought to have warned him about that Shada fellow, I watched him train. He strikes hard - I overheard that he'd been facing fully grown men in combat before coming here."

"Yeah, that would've been nice to know sooner, scroll worm," Seth grumbled. "A few of those stalemates I thought he would break my arms. I'm convinced he smuggled a strength-enhancer into the ring somehow."

"I'm awake," I said. "What is it?"

"We came to check on you," Mana said. "Are you feeling any better?"

"A bit better," I said. How long did Naunet say I had to stay in bed?"

"A couple days," Mana reminded me.

"Which leaves me one day to train for the next contest," I said with a scowl.

"How'd you know that?" Seth asked.

"Ah…"

"Naunet let it slip when she was helping Kay earlier," Mana piped up.

"That reminds me, Mana and I managed to get lunch for you. Naunet said eating would help you recover."

"How long was I asleep?" I asked. Now that I looked, the light slanting through the curtains from the balcony was tinged orange with the beginning of sunset.

"Ever since Berenike sent you to your room to rest," Mana said. "Five hours, I think. Anyway, the lunch recess during the contest started and you still weren't awake, and Naunet said food would help, so we brought you some food for when you woke up. We also got your weapons back from Karim's magic vase thing. The contests ended a couple hours ago, and he let us have our stuff back." She angled her head toward my knife, still in my hand. I slowly sheathed it and put it down, ensuring it was still within grabbing distance if I needed it.

"Tell me everything you saw," I said, sitting up. I grimaced as my head throbbed.

"Take it easy, will you?" Mana said. "Okay, so, here's what happened…"