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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment