Ba-Khu-Ra glowered at the pile of bodies that she
had left behind. The guards that had attacked her hadn't stood a chance of
actually killing her after she had called forth Diabound and now there was just
one guard still breathing.
"Who ordered you to attack me?" Ba-Khu-Ra
demanded with a scowl, Diabound squeezing the man in his grip, causing a pained
cry to escape the royal guard.
He didn't answer, instead he focused on trying to
struggle free of the naga like, stone skinned creature's grip. Ba-Khu-Ra let
out a frustrated growl and gestured to Diabound who tightened his crushing grip
enough for Ba-Khu-Ra to hear a crack and the guard to screech.
"Now, as I was saying, who's orders were you
acting on?"
"The Pharaoh's!" The guard yelped,
"It was Pharaoh's orders."
"What?" That Ba-Khu-Ra hadn't expected.
Akhenaden's probably, Shada's maybe, hell even Mahad was a possibility, but the
Pharaoh herself? Why would the Pharaoh, who had been her friend for years,
order her death now? It didn't make any sense, especially after the Pharaoh had
supported her in court and promised to ensure that she got her revenge on the
man who had murdered her people.
"The Pharaoh ordered us to kill you."
The guard gasped, his breath short and pained before he paused to cough up
blood, causing Ba-Khu-Ra to grimace as she realized she had punctured one of
his lungs and he probably wouldn't be able to talk too much longer. "And
bury the evidence Kul Elna ever existed."
Ba-Khu-Ra froze. She wouldn't. The Pharaoh
couldn't. She had promised! Promised! That the people of Kul Elna would get
justice and the afterlife they deserved. There was no way...
‘Except the
Pharaoh had lived a lie her entire life. What was this in comparison to pulling
the wool over the eyes of all of Egypt?’
No, the Pharaoh wasn't like that. They were
friends. The Pharaoh had tried to help her get justice for years. There was no
way that she would suddenly turn on her like this. There had to be a good reason
for it.
"When did he give you those orders?" Ba-Khu-Ra
demanded, glowering at the man, even now keeping her friend's secret from the
dying Guard, hoping to get something out of the man that would give lie to his
belief.
"Our commander met with the Pharaoh and he
ordered your death." The Guard replied, "Along with the destruction
of what was left of the village. He didn't want the truth of the Millennium
Items getting out."
‘Of course
the Pharaoh wouldn't. She lived her entire life under the creed 'what's best
for the people.' She was pretending to be her brother in order to prevent chaos
and rioting amongst the rabble. Imagine the nightmare that admitting how the
Millennium Items were created would cause amongst the commoners.’
Except the Pharaoh had shown no signs of wanting
to kill her when they had left the palace to come here.
‘Had she
not? She sent you out into the desert with a man who hated her and a group of
guards who had been sent to aid him. If it hadn't been for us,’ The voices
reminded her, ‘You would have been killed.’
"You lie." The Pharaoh had supported
her, upheld her side, argued with her High Priests about what should be done
about the problem Akhenaden had caused and now needed to fix.
"No, I don't." The guard replied,
"After all, why would a low life piece of scum ever think the Pharaoh
would truly turn against his family and High Priests? He was never on your
side. He just played you."
Ba-Khu-Ra's anger flared at that and she made a
gesture to Diabound that had the creature crush the guard, killing him slowly
and painfully as she stalked away, looking for any other targets she could
annihilate.
‘The Pharaoh
supported you.’ The voices agreed, ‘But
that support was in a closed court where the only people who had heard what had
happened to Kul Elna were the High Priests, you and Pharaoh herself. She
had practically ordered you to keep what had happened to yourself and hasn’t told
Seth or Mana, despite the fact that both were High Priests in training.
There was no
way someone who lived a lie in order to prevent the country descending into
chaos would want this secret free amongst the rabble. It made sense that she
would try to get rid of the evidence and the only person who knew the truth
outside of her court.’
Ba-Khu-Ra didn’t want to agree, but she could see
the truth behind the voices.
’The Pharaoh
is just as bad as her uncle. She would take away our only chance of moving on.
Would keep the truth a secret and allow us to wander Duat for eternity in order
to keep her power.’ The voices continued, weaving around Ba-Khu-Ra as they
did so, ‘She betrayed you. Wants you
dead. Broke her promise. She will send more men to finish the job when she
hears you survived. We could destroy her. We SHOULD destroy her. Alongside
everyone else who dares to use the items that we paid with our blood and souls
to create. We can give you that power. All you have to do in exchange is gather
the Millennium Items so we can be free. Free from our slavery and imprisonment.
Free to move on.’
She knew she shouldn’t listen. Mahad had tried to
teach her to block them out so she didn’t have to, but they made too much sense
and they wanted to help her. Wanted to give her the power to take down the
entire rotten court.
And she would do it. She had only stayed her hand
this long because she thought that by working within the palace she could help
the Pharaoh make things better and get her revenge on the men who had ruined
her home and her life.
But the Pharaoh was a liar and a backstabber. She
was as bad as the rest of her family and she should pay, just like the others.
In fact Ba-Khu-Ra would make her suffer first…
‘Well?’
The voices asked, ‘Will you accept our
power?’
“Yes.” Ba-Khu-Ra nodded, “Yes, I will.”
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