Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Black Land ❯ Black Land ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Not mine.

AN: ...random phrases pop into my head and make me write fics like this. Be afraid.

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Despite all of the rumors he had heard about the prince of Kemet, this had never been mentioned. The boy was downright tiny - scarcely six years old, at most, he knew, and looking much younger by far.

And his father, damn him, had sent him off from the official welcoming ceremonies so he could go entertain the princeling. The king had muttered something about establishing good relations between the kingdoms, and promptly shoved him off towards the personal chambers of Kemet's little shadow child.

He was an odd-looking little creature, and despite all his regal dress, there was something wild about his appearance that set the elder boy's teeth on edge.

The fact that the child had not said a word to him in the past ten minutes only added to his discomfort. He had heard that the young one was very strange indeed, but even strange children were usually curious about having visitors. This boy, however, just ignored his presence completely, idly playing with a few carved toys - and from the looks of things, he was making a mock-up of a campaign across the deserts - no doubt practicing for when he was older and had armies to command instead of little wooden animals.

It wasn't until he actually started toying with a few game pieces that lay scattered over a senet board that he managed to catch the little prince's attention.

Soft golden bangs tumbled over glimmering ruby eyes as the child gave him a long, curious look. "What are you doing?"

He put the pieces down, embarrassed at being caught fidgeting. "Um..."

The little boy jumped up from his toys and came over, seeming to be even smaller as he craned his neck to look up at his visitor. "Will you play a game with me?"

A game?

He had played senet with his brothers and sisters many times before, he could certainly play with this child, could he not? "If you wish me to, my prince."

The young prince smiled.

It was an unsettling expression.

* * *

When the first scream rang out from the prince's quarters, the guards charged, and when the second pierced the air, the entirety of the high court came running.

More screams erupted when they finally forced their way into the room.

Sprawled across the marble floor lay the soulless shell of the visiting prince, blank eyes wide with shock, jaw gaping and frozen in death.

The Pharaoh Akunamukanon pushed his way past the shaken guards, biting back a violent curse as the scene came into view. Behind him rang the muffled shrieks of the boy's parents - but he did not have the time to worry over diplomatic relations, not when a child lay dead in the bedchambers of his only son.

His son... where was his son?

The pharaoh strode impassively past the corpse, gesturing for his personal guards to accompany him as he made his way from the crowded noise of the room into the still, golden warmth that pervaded the width of the massive balcony that looked over the inner courtyards of the palace.

Perched lightly on the wall, slender form kissed by the sunlight that caught in his wild hair and shimmered over his skin, was the tiny figure of his son, kicking his feet and humming quietly to himself as he watched the servants scurry past, a hundred feet below him.

Pharaoh drew up behind the boy and held back a sigh of relief. His heir, at least, still lived... "My son?"

The little prince turned sparkling ruby eyes his way, and in a move that had the guards lunging for him in alarm, spun easily around on his perch to face them. The child paid the anxious hands reaching for him no heed, attention latched firmly onto his father. "Yes?"

This time, he let himself sigh. If he were this calm, it was unlikely that the trickery of some assassin had struck down the other boy, but then... "What has happened?"

The boy blinked once and glanced back into the commotion that filled his room. The others looked with him - into a scene of bustling guards and weeping courtesans, the air filled with the rustle of silk and soft murmurs and grief-filled wails, haunted by the undercurrent of low arguments and curses that simmered in the quieter corners of the room.

A tiny, flickering smile curved the softness of the prince's lips as he looked back up to the pharaoh, still perfectly composed despite the presence of both the noise and the crowd, soft amusement shimmering deep in his strange, wild eyes.

Slim, bare shoulders lifted and fell in the slightest of shrugs. "He lost."

Twelve pairs of shocked eyes snapped back to the little prince, their owners falling into a horrified silence as they regarded the heir to Kemet's throne.

Atemu just looked back at them and giggled.

* * *
-The End-
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Author's Note: ...I want a little demon-prince Yami.

Technical Note: Senet was a game for two with five to seven pieces per player. It seems to have been a game of skill and chance, perhaps akin to backgammon and was widely played by people of all social classes.

The Senet board had 30 squares which were traversed along an S-shaped pathway. The two players were placed their pieces alternatingly on the first 10 to 14 squares of the board. They were advanced according to the results of throws of little sticks, knuckle bones or more rarely of a teetotum. The aim seems to have been to move all one's pieces to the last square of the board and remove them. The 26th square was often called nefer (i.e. good, beautiful - seemingly a "lucky" square), but the following one was some kind of an obstacle which had to be leapt over.

Source: http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/games.htm

Kemet - Egypt, means the Black Land in reference to the time the Nile flooded its banks for several months every year and then receded.

Feedback: mjalta@yahoo.com

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