It
was quite incredible how fast they were able to fall into their old
complacency. She had originally decided she needed to do a preliminary run of
the castle before she robbed the treasury blind. Now she wasn’t sure that it
was worth the effort. She had believed that the security around the castle
would have increased after Anubis’s little stunt.
There
was a chance it had and she had missed it. It had, after all, been months since
the exiled sorcerer had had the children of the Pharaoh kidnapped and nearly
destroyed the royal family. Still she hadn’t expected security to have slipped
this far already. Obviously they weren’t paying the guards enough.
Of
course by the time she was done, she planned on them having a lot less to pay
those guards with, but that was neither here or now. She carefully followed the
wall around, heading for the entrance she knew was by the stables. If her
inside source was correct, the kitchens had a door round there that was used to
bring fresh foods into the palace. One that didn’t normally have guards
hovering around it because it was locked when it wasn’t in use.
The
source was wrong about the guards, who kept checking back as part of their
patrol of the stables, but they were right about the back entrance. Confusingly
it wasn’t bolted though, allowing her to slip inside with no trouble.
‘There’s no way it should be this
easy.’ The thief
thought as she entered the empty kitchens, making a note to take a loaf of the
flatbread on one of the tables with her when she left. Food wasn’t easy to come
by when you didn’t have a steady income after all and there was no way that
those of the palace would miss one loaf.
The
hallways weren’t as empty as she would have liked, she often had to duck behind
pillars and statues to avoid being seen by the various guards and priests that
were still awake even at this obscene time of the night. Still if this was the
usual traffic it was good practise for the real thing and gave her a good idea
of how long she had between footsteps in the hallway.
It
wasn’t until she went past the statues of Horus near the double doors to the
throne room for the third time that she realised she was lost within the
palace’s twisting corridors. It was part of the reason for scoping out the
place in advance. It was better to take the effort to do that, than to get lost
within a complex and have to hide for an entire day with your loot. She had
learned that lesson early.
The
treasury would be on the ground floor, she was certain of that. In fact it
would be the most heavily guarded section of the palace, or second most next to
the Pharaoh’s sleeping chambers she wasn’t entirely sure which. Either way the
trail of guards she had expected to find was missing, leaving her to explore
the many passageways until she had an almost complete map in her mind.
“My
Prince, you need to rest.” The sound of voices heading her way caused her to
dart behind the nearest pillar. Keeping herself out of sight, she listened as a
pair of footsteps approached, one light, with no foot coverings, almost a
child’s steps and another pair of sandaled feet stopping not far from her
hiding place.
“Can’t
sleep.” The voice was young, feminine but Ba-Khu-Ra knew who it was. Anger
coursed through her at the thought of Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen’s spawn being
just feet from her. The Pharaoh’s men had destroyed her village, killing every
man, woman and child there and razing it to the ground. The sons inherited the
sins of the father and she wanted her revenge.
“Night terrors again?” The second voice was male,
softly spoken, concern obvious in his tone. “Anubis?”
“Yes.” The Prince sounded despairing. The thief
was almost pleased by that little fact. Most of Egypt was aware that the Princess
had died at the hands of the exiled Sorcerer who had had the audacity to name
himself after Anubis. That seeing his sister die before his eyes could have
given the Prince a tiny taste of the despair she felt everyday brought the
thief a small measure of vindictive satisfaction.
“Have
you spoken with your father yet?” The second voice asked, “it might help.”
“And
tell him what, Mahad?” The Prince asked, sounding frightened now. Frightened
and upset. “What could I tell him that would ‘help’?”
“The
truth.” Mahad replied sincerely, “If he doesn’t know by now getting it out
might at least help you get some closure and stop these monsters terrorising
you at night.”
“The
truth?” The Prince squeaked, “You want me to go up to my father and tell him,
oh I’m sorry father, but the daughter you buried wasn’t actually your daughter,
it was your son?!”
Ba-Khu-Ra
froze in place at those words. Surely she could not have heard them right. The
Prince was claiming he wasn’t the Prince, he was the Princess? That he had died
in her place?
A
slow smirk grew as she realised that she had been handed a wondrous gift. If
the Princess didn’t want people knowing her secret, she would pay for it to be
kept. She would pay a lot. Blackmailing Akhenamkhanen’s daughter would
bring her riches beyond imagining.
“I think he knows.” Mahad tried to tell her, “And
I kept my word. Your brother took his rightful name with him to the afterlife.
You’re the one now at risk of taking the wrong one to your grave and becoming
trapped here, or worse.”
“My brother gave his life to protect me. My older
siblings gave their lives to defend this country.” She replied, “There is no
one of my line I can marry and if I reveal myself without a husband to marry
the country will fall into anarchy.”
“Your uncle is of your family line.” Mahad pointed
out, causing Ba-Khu-Ra to scowl. The man who had destroyed her village on
Pharaoh’s orders was old, cruel and decrepit. No one should be forced to marry
him.
“I would rather hide my gender for another three
millennia than marry him!” The Princess seemed to agree.
There was no response from Mahad for a while and
the thief thought for a moment the pair had moved on, then the young man spoke,
his words carefully picked, “You will have to provide an legitimate heir and a
spare at least. How will you do that if you don’t marry?”
“Can’t I think about that later?” The last royal
child complained. “I’m still young.”
“At your age the commoners are already considering
marriage and children.” Mahad pointed out.
“I’ll work something out.” Ba-Khu-Ra thought the
Princess was probably shrugging, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I should be heading
back to my rooms.”
“I’ll walk you back.” Mahad sounded annoyed, like
he didn’t want to end the conversation there but knew it would be fruitless to
try again now.
“You still haven’t forgiven the guards for…” The
girl trailed off, sounding uncomfortable.
“If they had been doing their jobs, you wouldn’t
have to go through with this deception.” Mahad retorted, his anger obviously
rising, “You and your brother would never have been stolen from the palace and
Anubis wouldn’t have…”
“Easy.” The Princess murmured softly, “I know you
miss him too.”
Ba-Khu-Ra risked a glance around the statue and
saw the Princess hugging the taller man who was dressed in the garb of an
apprentice priest. Her temper rose again as she realized that the man before
her was one who would likely profit from the deaths of her village, but she
kept it in check. He had no Millennium Item yet, he was not yet at fault.
It didn’t help that the whispering darkness that
had been stalking her since Kul Elna’s destruction screamed for their blood. Both
the Princess and Mahad were innocents in all of this, non-combatants who had
done nothing wrong yet. Ba-Khu-Ra refused to sink to the Pharaoh’s level and murder
innocent people in cold blood. There had to be another way to get revenge.
The thief pulled her head back in as the girl
pulled away from her guardian, looking embarrassed.
“Come on.” Mahad spoke softly, tears obvious in
his voice, even if she hadn’t seen any on his face. “When you took your
brother’s place, you took on his lessons too and your tutors won’t let you
sleep in and miss them.”
“Yeay.” The ‘Crown Prince’ deadpanned, causing
Ba-Khu-Ra to smirk slightly, amused by her attitude. The pair moved off and she
followed at the safe distance. If she wanted to be paid to not spread around
the truth, she had to catch the Princess when she didn’t have tall, dark and
scary around protecting her. That meant she would have to slip into the
Princess’s rooms and catch her unaware.
She managed to follow them upstairs without either
noticing and along the corridors to the bedchambers. There she had to wait
while Mahad checked the room for intruders before slipping in, hiding herself
as he lit the lamps and closed the doors for the night.
The Princess was over by her window when she
emerged from her hiding place and the thief was halfway across the room when
the girl turned away from the window overlooking the gardens and spotted her.
“Who are…?” The Princess trailed off as she faced
down not only the white haired girl who had invaded her rooms, but was suddenly
face to face with a half snake like creature that was glaring menacingly at
her.
“Don’t scream.” Ba-Khu-Ra answered, having called
her personal Ka beast, Diabound, only to frighten the Princess into submission.
“I just want to talk.”
The thief was no fool. She could see that the
Princess was contemplating her options. Likelihood was that the other girl had
a weapon either on her somewhere or hidden in the room, but Ba-Khu-Ra didn’t
want to get into a fight even if she knew she could win. Some wounds got nasty
and while doctors had to be quiet about people they treated, the ones she had
to use charged through the nose for that privilege.
“What do you want?” The younger of the two girls
asked, her regal bearing and scowl grating on the nerves of the common born
thief.
“Well, Princess,”
Ba-Khu-Ra had the satisfaction of seeing the girl wince when she emphasized the
title, “I know something you don’t want the Pharaoh learning. I dare say that
might be worth something. A lot of something.”
“Blackmail?” The Princess didn’t look amused,
“That’s your game? You snuck past the guards, avoided Mahad and stole into my
rooms purely for a little money?” She let out a soft, irritated snort, “There
are better ways of making a living. Legal ways.”
“None as fast and as profitable.” Ba-Khu-Ra
couldn’t resist pointing out. “Or as fun.”
It took the Princess a moment to process that
then, “And what’s to stop me screaming? Mahad would arrest you in a heartbeat.”
“Simple. If I end up in a jail cell, your secret
goes public.” The thief shrugged, amused by the whole situation despite
herself, “If that happens the law your brothers died for will be sand in the
winds.”
Ba-Khu-Ra watched the other girl struggle with
herself for a moment. It was obvious that she didn’t want to concede that she
had lost this round by handing over gold or jewels, but the fact of the matter
was that she had. Before the Princess had even entered into the game she had
been defeated.
“I don’t keep gold here.” She gestured around,
“Nor jewels, so you won’t find what you came for in my rooms.”
“No. Probably not.” Ba-Khu-Ra was worryingly
unphased by this, “But the treasury has exactly what I want.”
“You’re not serious.” The Princess deadpanned.
“You want me to let you into the treasury?”
“Maybe your Uncle’s a better listener.” Ba-Khu-Ra
mused aloud, “I hear he deals with the prisoners after all.”
“No!” The girl yelped, “No. That won’t be
necessary.” The Princess paused, calming herself as she did so. It did not do
to lose to a common variety thief after all. Taking a moment to consider her
opponent carefully, she internally smirked as she asked, “And what if I have a
better offer than money?”
“I doubt you do,” Ba-Khu-Ra replied, curious
despite herself, “But go on.”
“You have Shadow Magic, just being able to summon
your Ka beast is proof enough of that. I doubt there’s little stopping you
walking in and out of the treasury at will. Well except boredom.” She answered,
“And a little training.”
Now she had the thief’s attention. “And what are
you suggesting?”
“A game. Or rather a test. Of the palace’s
security.” The Princess offered, confidence obvious, “If you can get both of us
into the treasury without magic and without anyone seeing us, I’ll not only pay
you for your silence, I’ll throw in some magic lessons.”
“And if I lose?”
“If you lose, you have to keep the secret. That’s
all.”
The money and the lessons were as good as hers.
Unlike the Princess, Ba-Khu-Ra knew exactly how sloppy the guards were this
evening. One thing bothered her though, “You can’t call anyone over
deliberately.”
“Of course not.” Her opponent surprised her by
agreeing, “That would be cheating.”
“And you have to follow my lead.”
The Princess grimaced slightly, “Only within the
bounds of the game. We’re not to leave the palace.”
“Agreed.” She wouldn’t have kidnapped the Princess
even without that rule. Too much effort for too little return.
“Then let the game begin.”
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