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.”
