Ennead: Ancient Bit: Part 5

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

“You WANT her to come back?!” Ba-Khu-Ra grinned slightly at the outrage in Mahad’s tone as she waited for the right moment to reveal herself to the pair in the classroom who were about to start their lessons for the day. “My Prince, I say this with the deepest respect. Have you gone stark, raving mad?”

“No.” The Princess protested, “But we tied. That doesn’t happen!”

“My Prince, think about this for a moment. You want a thief in the palace purely based on the fact you didn’t beat her?” Mahad sounded irritated, “You cannot be serious.”

“I am.” The girl sounded amused by her friend’s mood, “Besides, I didn’t think she would turn down the chance to learn how to control her powers properly.”

“I wouldn’t.” Ba-Khu-Ra stepped out of the darkness, causing the Princess to jump. Her guardian drew his dagger and glowered at the thief in their midst. “So here I am.” She glanced down at the short, sharp blade, “I’m here to fight, I’m here to learn so put that away before you hurt yourself.”

“Mahad.” The Princess called, putting her hand on her guardian’s arm, “I’m the one who made this agreement so she’s my guest.” She looked at Ba-Khu-Ra, “But we won’t be visiting the treasury again.”

“A shame. I so enjoyed our last trip there.” The thief smirked at her. She still had the majority of the treasure she had liberated from the vault the last time she had been in the palace, squirreled away in a safe place where no one would think to look for it. “So how do we start this thing off?”

“With you sitting down and shutting up.” Mahad pointed to a table and chair, “And reading this scroll.”

“Reading?” The thief blinked, “I thought we were using magic. Where does reading come into it?”

“You don’t know how to read?” The Princess looked shocked.

“We had teachers in my village,” Ba-Khu-Ra shrugged, thinking about the extortionate fees the scribes had charged to teach children, “But that was a very long time ago, when I actually still had a village to call home.”

“What, did they kick you out?” Mahad spat.

“You haven’t researched anything, have you?” Ba-Khu-Ra shot back, angry.

“Why should I accept the word of a thief?” Mahad demanded, glowering back.

“You’re just as bad as the rest of them.” Ba-Khu-Ra snapped, magic beginning to manifest as a dark aura around her.

“Hey!” The Princess got between the pair of them, glancing between the two. “That’s enough. Both of you.”

“Step aside, your highness.” Mahad glowered at Ba-Khu-Ra over her head, “This thief isn’t fit to step upon the palace grounds.”

“Are you ordering me to move?” The Princess stared at him, shocked, “Seriously?”

“It’s a recommendation.” Mahad replied, pausing just long enough beforehand to realise how his last sentence had sounded.

“Look, Princess,” Ba-Khu-Ra made the title sound rude, “I don’t think this is going to work. I refuse to learn from some stuck up, arrogant ass who is so blind he refuses to see past the end of his nose.”

“You’re accusing the priests of evil.” Mahad glowered at her, “How can I take you seriously?”

The Princess paused and turned to Ba-Khu-Ra, a concerned and surprisingly unsurprised look on her features, “Which priests?”

“Finally.” Ba-Khu-Ra threw her hands up in the air, “Someone who’s willing to listen. Your Uncle is the worst of the lot, but those ‘golden treasures?’ Well,” She smirked at Mahad, “What’s your teacher taught you about blood magic?”

“That’s quite enough.” Mahad spoke over the Princess. “Your highness, I can’t teach her until she knows how to read, so perhaps you should find another teacher.”

“I’ll teach her to read.” The Princess informed him, “And until I have, I’m tasking you with finding out what in the names of the Gods my Uncle did.” She looked at Ba-Khu-Ra, “I know my uncle, I know he’s... wrong. I’ll listen, even if Mahad won’t.”

“You won’t like it.” Ba-Khu-Ra warned her.

“Even if I don’t like it, I will do what I can to fix it.” The Princess swore.

“You can’t fix it.” The thief scowled at her.

“Let me try.”

Ennead: Ancient Bit: Part 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

“So...” Ba-Khu-Ra asked as she hovered around the Princess’s bed, unwilling to go too far while everyone was watching her carefully. “Does this mean I won?”

“No.” The girl shook her head, winced and brought a hand to the back of her head where it had hit the marble floor, “We got caught.”

“We were in the treasury.” Ba-Khu-Ra hissed, irritated despite the bag of gold and jewels hidden in her tunic. “I won.”

“No, we were in the doorway so technically neither of us won.” The Princess hissed back, “And I just saved your life, so a little gratitude would be nice.”

“Gratitude?” Ba-Khu-Ra snapped back, keeping her tone low, “When you’re trying to screw me out of my treasure?”

“Look,” The Princess glowered at her, her own voice barely above a whisper, “I’ve just gotten you permission to study magic with MY teacher. And I can see that full bag, the guards might have missed the extra lump in your clothes but I haven’t. You’re not as hard done by as you’re making...”

The thief scowled and moved away as the physician darted into the room and came straight over to their patient. He was closely followed by Mahad, who, though Abasi called him over, first darted over to the Princess’s side where he got into a very quiet but very intense conversation before he was politely shooed away by the healer.

“Outside.” Mahad growled at her, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her out. When Ba-Khu-Ra dug her heels in, he leaned in and whispered, “Unless you want me to tell the guards your secret.”

“I’ll tell them hers if you do.” Ba-Khu-Ra subtly gestured towards the bed.

Realisation settled on Mahad’s face, then anger. “Outside now.” He snapped, one hand reaching for the bronze dagger at his belt, the other still wrapped around her arm.

She was pretty sure she could take him in a fight. He was softer than her, more spoilt from the life inside the palace and while he had obviously been trained to defend himself and his charge, she was pretty sure that he would fight fair while she never had.

She followed him out of the room and down the corridor. Amusingly in the time it took them to find an out of the way corner, she had already worked out six different escape routes, none of which required magic to use.

“I should kill you.” Mahad snapped at her the instant they were alone and could not be overheard, drawing his dagger.

Bakura responded by stamping on his foot, forcing him to let her go. She slipped straight into the darkness, vanishing with practised ease but sticking close enough for him to hear her voice. “If your Princess wanted me dead, she could have had me killed already. But perhaps I’m not the one you should contemplate ending.” She moved around the room, circling him, keeping him off balance, “There’s far worse than me within your walls. But then I’m the only one who knows the evil for what it is.”

“What do you mean?” Mahad demanded, concerned and confused and still angry.

“Look into your priests and your precious golden treasures. And try asking about a village called Kul Elna.” Ba-Khu-Ra taunted, “Perhaps you’ll know what I know by the time I come back for my magic lessons. Or maybe not. Perhaps you’re just as blind as the rest of them.” With that she was gone, slipping into the darkness with practised ease and escaping out of the nearest window.

Ennead: Ancient Bit 3

Part 1
Part 2

“What’re you going to do now, brat?”

Ba-Khu-Ra tried to twist free of the man holding her, only to stop when his blade bit into her throat and her right arm was twisted further up her back, causing her shoulder to ache. A grimace worked its way across her features as her Ka beast stopped, mid-attack and turned to glower at her captor.

“You thought you’d finished me off, didn’t you?” The man sounded like he was smirking as he forced her to move forward, towards his boss who was watching her like she was a puzzle. “This is what you get,” He twisted her arm further, forcing a hiss of pain out of her as her shoulder went from aching to screaming, “For being such a smug...”

“Menes.” His boss snapped at him, “Don’t taunt the mage brat.” The woman came forward, one eye on Diabound, who was hesitant to try anything with his summoner held hostage, and one eye on the thief girl who had wiped out six of her seven goons.

“So, who are you kid?” She asked, looking Ba-Khu-Ra over, “One of the priest spawn? An illegitimate brat of the Pharaoh’s?”

“Don’t insult me.” Ba-Khu-Ra snapped at her, pain mingling with disgust at the suggestion to make her voice sharp and her eyes narrow. “I’m not related to any of these assholes.” Especially not the blasted Princess, who had fled at the first opportunity.

“So who are you?” The woman asked again, amused by the vehemence shown by the kid, “Because I’d like to know your name before I kill you for ruining my heist.”

“Me?” Ba-Khu-Ra let out a bark of laughter despite her irritation, “Ruined your job? You have any idea how long I planned this job? You’re the one who ruined mine!”

“You’re a thief?” The woman seemed to do a double take, “A mage brat? I don’t...”

The woman was cut off by an agonised bellow from Menes. He dropped the knife, allowing Ba-Khu-Ra to pull free and turn to find out what had happened.

To her shock Menes had a dagger sticking out of his side and the Princess, who she had thought long gone, was stood there, anger obvious on her features.

Menes, when he realised what had happened, lashed out, punching the Princess in the face, causing her to go crashing to the floor where she slammed her head against the marble stones and blacked out. Before he could advance on the unconscious girl, Diabound had picked him up and chucked him into the huge stone doors, which he hit with a crack.

The woman thief who had ruined Ba-Khu-Ra’s plans backed up, suddenly looking rather worried as she stared at the huge, grey skinned naga like creature.

“I’m not only a thief.” Ba-Khu-Ra informed her, smirking despite her plans having gone completely to pot, “I’m the best there is. Now, Diabound!” She gestured forward and the woman had time to let out a shriek before Diabound blew her away.

“Damn it.” Ba-Khu-Ra grumbled as the smoke from the blast dissipated, revealing all that was left was some ash, “She made me melt some of the treasure.” She knelt down by some of the melted gold and grimaced at the mess that was left as she collected a small bag of gold and jewels that she hid in her tunic, planning on coming back for more later.

“Wake up.” Ba-Khu-Ra nudged the Princess with her foot, wanting to rub in the fact that they had gotten into the treasury without getting caught by the guards. “Oi!”

“Halt!” Ba-Khu-Ra scowled as the guards finally arrived, having missed the action but in plenty of time to still catch her. She looked around for her Ka beast only to find it had dismissed itself and she didn’t have the energy left to call it up a third time this evening.

There was a pack of them at the door, headed by one of the Priests, a short, broad man with hair in three shades of grey that seemed to fly out in almost every direction under the headpiece, Millennium Rod in hand. Two of them checked over the mook that had crashed into the door as the rest entered the room, swords pointed at Ba-Khu-Ra.

It was the priest who reacted the most though as he spotted the form collapsed on the floor. “My Prince!” He shoved Ba-Khu-Ra aside, into the waiting arms of the guards and knelt by the girl, checking her over carefully and shaking her to try and get a response, “Wake up! Please!”

A pained groan emerged from the false Prince, causing relief to cross the priest’s features. The elderly man turned to glower at Ba-Khu-Ra as one of the guards scooped up the girl on the ground. “Who’re you?”

The girl glared back. The man before her held a Millennium Item, that meant he was one of those who were benefiting from what had happened to her home and her family. If he wanted to take her in, or take her down, she wasn’t going to let him do so easily. Tired or not, she would summon Diabound again and destroy herself to kill him if she had to.

“Abasi...” The priest paused, half turning to the dazed looking ‘Prince’ whose eyes were half open, unfocused and staring at him. “She’s one of the magic students.”

“My Prince?” Abasi asked, confused, “I don’t believe...”

“Are you questioning me?” The ‘Prince’ snapped, regal authority in her tone despite her current position. “I know who I study with. She IS one of Mahad’s students.”

“I understand, my Prince.” Abasi nodded, herding Ba-Khu-Ra out of the treasury, the guard carrying the Princess following, “Though you might want to inform Mahad of that fact.”

SPOILERS: Pokémon Y: Thoughts of the Lead Character

It was a small collection of shiny stones. To most people they wouldn’t be worth very much. They looked more like big marbles than anything else. The only reason she knew the group hadn’t been replaced by marbles was the slight glow in each and every one of the balls.

They had no real ‘official’ group name, each one was named for the Pokémon who could use them. However, she called them Megacite. Each one of them interacted with her bracelet, the Mega Ring she had acquired in the Master’s Tower.

She had more Megacite than she had Pokémon who could use them. Even on her own squad she only actually carried two Pokémon who could use their Megacite to evolve to a higher level. A level beyond their normal form, unlocking their hidden potential.

She had been very careful with the extra evolution. There were people who had asked odd questions about her strange, overpowered Pokémon. Accusations had flown about genetically modified Pokémon and unfair tactics, along with a marked interested from the bad guys every time she ended up using the stones in their presence.

If she was honest with herself, however, she had been far too eager to play with the new power when she had first received it. Almost every battle she had entered for the first twenty four hours had involved a mega evolution of some kind of another. Only of course, if she had sent her Lucario or her Charizard into combat, but she had drawn far, far too much attention to herself in doing it.

Still the time to really use the power was at hand. Lysander’s mass message to everyone with a holocaster was a disturbing one. She had suspected him of being in on Team Flare’s scheme for a while. Despite the fact the Professor had been friends with him for a long time, Lysander had been spouting much the same spiel as the grunts she had been smacking around for while.

What was worse was that the Professor had been telling Lysander what she and her friends had been up to. The five of them, collectively known as Sycamore’s students, had been through an awful lot since they had left home and apparently Lysander had been told about all of it.

He had contacted her almost immediately after she had gotten her Mega Ring. Had encouraged her to think about working to change the world, that letting things stay the way they are was wrong. She should have reported him then. Before he had reached the point where he could threaten the lives of everyone in the world.

He was probably stronger than her. Though she had not had much trouble with that even without using the Megacite, she was a brand new Trainer, only a few months from leaving home. He was the leader of a Team of villains who wanted to destroy the world. This wasn’t just one or two grunts, or a small group of villains taking over a power plant.

This was the world.

Still she had her team, her whole team, not just Lucario and Charizard, but Delphfox, Talonflame, Raichu and Pyroar too. Between the six of them, she had faith they could stop whatever was planned. She had a horrible feeling it was going to involve the legendary Pokémon, Yvetal and its power to suck away the lifeforce of those around it upon awakening.  

The only really concern she had was if she ran into a water, ground or rock type. Water types had a match in Raichu, but she didn’t have anything on her team to tackle the other two types. Defeating the rock type Gym had taken a lot of sheer dumb luck and a copious amount of ‘Dragon Rage’ on the part of her, at the time, Charmeleon.

It had worked before though and her team knew better moves now then they had then. She had more experience too. She knew more tactics and had had more practise herself. She would be able to back up her Pokémon as they fought together as a group to prevent Lysander’s plans.

She just had to hope all the growing up she had done over the last couple of months and the power of the Megacite would be enough to allow her to save the world.

Clanverse: Orichelcos Arc, Yugi's Daughter

It was not often that Doctor Mutou got time to herself. The Doctor of Archaeology was also the Head of the Magic within Ancient Cultures course at the University she had once studied at and unlike some of her colleagues she actually liked interacting with her students and often could be found giving students extra support or tutoring on magic.

Between the extra support she gave her students and her duties to the Clan and the Duellist Kingdom as the Heir to her father’s throne she did not tend to have a moment to spare for herself. Sleep was a luxury, yet alone actually getting a chance to go for a drive with no one hovering over her shoulder.

When the lecture hall she was supposed to be teaching in had been flooded out by a combination of bad weather and some idiot breaking a water pipe, she took advantage of the situation. Within five minutes of slapping a notice on the outer door to the building stating that the lecture was cancelled, she had put on her helmet, backed her bike out of the drive and shot off.

She sped down the main road, her motorbike’s engine roaring as she and her vehicle headed for the motorway, enjoying the feel of freedom. Peace and quiet was a rare commodity, it always had been amongst her family. So she valued every moment like this she could get.

She paused at the red lights, shifting her HoloDuel off of her arm and into its safe holster that her cousin, Ayumi Kaiba, who had developed the Solid Vision Hologram Duel Disk, had designed specifically for her motorcycle to allow Tenshi to take it with her without having to wear the damn thing over her bike leathers. Another motorcycle pulled up to the line alongside her. Tenshi glanced at the rider of the red and black motorcycle and found that brown eyes were watching her carefully. That was not what held her attention though. What did that was the little green glowing gem that hung on a pendant around his neck.

Tenshi grimaced as turned her attention back to the road. One of her students had brought her a gem just like that one and when she had turned it over to her family, they had warned her off of it and asked her to keep an eye out for anyone who was carrying it. She was sure they had doubled her guard too, but they were getting better at being sneaky about it and she had yet to catch them at it.

As the lights changed to green, Tenshi attempted to speed off and lose the guy beside her, only to hear his motor just behind her the entire time. Reaching the speed limit easily the moment she hit the motorway, she let out a hiss as the guy kept up with her, dogging her trail.

“This is ridiculous...” She growled, going to activate the inbuilt microphone in her helmet when the sight of her HoloDuel activating of its own accord shocked her into complete silence. Wondering what the hell was happening, she watched as the HoloDuel’s Virtual Deck system booted up, shuffling the virtual cards and emitting her first five ‘drawn’ cards just above her handlebars. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

Glancing over at the guy on the other bike she saw a strange looking HoloDuel attached to his bike in a much rougher manner than hers, it’s arm piece circular with a strange bright green star surrounded by two circle with runes in between in the same sickly colour. It too was active and he had flipped up his visor to smirk at her.

“How the hell?” Tenshi hissed, realising that her HoloDuel had been hacked and its Virtual Deck system, which was only in the very first HoloDuels and was supposed to only be a backup in case the solid vision holograms couldn’t support the real cards, had been forced into activation. “No bloody way.” She growled, risking taking one hand off of the handlebars in order to hit the power switch on her disk.

When it did not respond to her fiddling she let out a furious noise, noting that the other biker had already started his move, placing one card in defence mode and one card face down and activated the mic in her helmet before putting her hand back on the handlebars, determined not to crash while dealing with the minor issue of some idiot who thought that trying to play card games while travelling seventy miles an hour was a good idea.

“Tenshi to Home?” She spoke aloud, watching him gesture that it was her move.

“Home here. Pulling up your location now.” Aunt Hermione’s voice came through the speaker by her ear as she tried again to shut off her disk, “What the...?”

“Not my fault.” Tenshi shot back, torn between her natural competiveness and desire to win and the awareness that this was a ridiculous situation and she should have as little part in it as possible. “He hacked my HoloDisk. Virtual Deck started by itself.”

“Turn it back off then.” Tenshi’s aunt sounded less than amused.

“Tried that already.” Tenshi replied, before scowling and flipping up her visor, “Draw.” She ordered her HoloDuel, which made the system pull up another card. She could not quite hear what her aunt was saying over the noise as she slowed down, irritating her opponent and everyone behind her until she pulled into the ‘slow’ lane furthest over on the left hand side, but it sounded like ‘Mutou Tenshi, don’t even think about it.’

“Card one, card three face down, card six, face down, defence mode.” Tenshi ordered, looking for the nearest exit ramp so she could pull over and finish this Duel before smacking the moron in the face only to grimace when the next city was not for thirty-eight miles and the next services weren’t for another twenty-one. Once her HoloDuel was done following her orders, she glowered over to her opponent, “Oi, moron!” She bellowed, uncertain if he could hear her or not, “Your turn.”

Still just about able to hear Hermione scolding through the earphone, Tenshi watched both the road and her opponent at the same time. It was not easy, the road was not clear. She was just glad that the solid vision holograms that were floating in front of her bike were not interfering with the other vehicles on the road. She could do this. She did not need to win while they were still moving and the moment they left the motorway she could pull over legally and beat him. As long as it stayed just a duel, admittedly a high speed one, she could easily handle it.

Then he played a field card and the rules changed. Tenshi let out a started yelp as green washed past her, the same symbol on the man’s HoloDuel appearing below them and glowing with the same sickly green colour.

Tenshi paled. She had been warned about this. The Seal of Orichelcos was now in play.

“Hey Aunt ‘Mione?” Tenshi informed the woman listening to what was going on, “I might be in trouble.”

Both thankful and horrified that the Seal was keeping up with the two motorcyclists, Tenshi pushed her bike to keep up with her opponent, now playing catch up with him. The Seal was emitted by his HoloDuel and if she did not manage to keep up, the barrier, which she had been informed let inanimate objects in but did not allow living material to pass through, would have her off of her bike and at this speed a crash would probably kill her.

Amethyst eyes went wide as she realised something else. There were other motorists on the road and they were in danger too. The Seal would keep anyone but the two Duellists out but just as it would most likely allow her bike out, it would allow the cars in but not the people in them.

“Pull over!” Tenshi demanded, her voice barely carrying over the wind passing them.

“Not allowed.” The man, who had a broad Australian accent shook his head. “We’re on the motorway, remember?” He played another card in defence mode. “It’s your move.”

“Great, how come I get the speed freak?” Tenshi groaned to herself. “Draw.” The order was full of frustration but the HoloDuel responded. In her earpiece she could hear that Hermione had stopped scolding and instead was passing on information to other Clan members, while in the background someone was getting the motorway blocked off to other users. The fact that she was not going to be alone in this was reassuring for the Heir to the Throne, who had never been alone while going into battle in her entire life.

Tenshi let out a relieved sigh at the card she had drawn even as she sped up, forcing her opponent who wanted her soul, not her life, to speed up to and allowing them to pull away from the cars that had been slowly creeping closer and closer. She sacrificed her face down plant monster for her Queen Angel of Roses, who looked rather startled to be moving at high speed.

“Queen Angel!” Tenshi bellowed, catching her Duel Monster’s attention, “Attack the monster on his left!” Her opponent tried to activate Magic Cylinder to counter the attack, but Tenshi was ready, activating her Dust Tornado to destroy it and allow her seven star monster’s attack to go through.

The other biker let out a curse as his monster blew up in his face. Tenshi let out a worried hiss as his bike wobbled for moment, the Seal wobbling with him, relief setting in when he settled himself and no longer looked like he was going to crash. By the time he had stopped swerving dangerously they had passed a sign for the services stating that they were just less than ten miles out.

Ancient Stuff for Ennead (spoilers)

Ba-Khu-Ra was less than impressed by the security of the palace. The outer defenses were laughable, she hadn’t even needed to use her personal Ka beast to walk through the walls. Not when the guards were falling asleep on duty.

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.”