AU Fic: Cracked 14
Title: Cracked 14/19
Author: Dria
Rating: PG
Previous Chapters: One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen.
Summary: Everyone has something to say as Manabu, Tachibana and Tecchen return from their thwarted mission, and Tuti has to decide what to do next.
Author's Notes: This is the chapter of Epic Dialogue. Seriously, the guys would not stop talking >_> This chapter will also have to suffice for two weeks rather than the usual one as there will be no Cracked next Monday (I'm going away. Again ^^;), instead, Chapter 15 will appear on Monday 17th November. Till then, enjoy!
‘We were attacked!’
While Tuti could only stare as Manabu repeated himself, Takashi’s voice rose loud and clear, ‘Summon Souta! Washio, get Tecchen out of there!’
It was Takashi who hauled on Tuti’s arm, pulling him back from the bows as Captain Washio and his men rushed forward, ropes in their arms and a sheet stretching between them. Right behind them was Besshi, who was in such a hurry he skidded on the deck and almost pitched himself over the side but for the quick reactions of one of the soldiers. When even a push from Captain Washio didn’t stop Besshi from trying to get involved Tuti grabbed his servant by the shoulder, yanking him back with a snap of, ‘We’ve already lost one man today to the crocodiles, do you want to be the second?!’
The mumbling answer he got was meaningless because neither Tuti nor Takashi were paying any attention to it when the soldiers were already throwing the rough sling over the side. Captain Washio was barking orders at everyone and anyone but his voice didn’t drown out the continuing monologue of Manabu from below. Tuti could only catch fractions of sentences and none of it was reassuring, which made him yell at Captain Washio, ‘Move faster!’
Souta was with them now, breathing hard, his short hair attempting to stand on end as he bobbed about to try and see Tecchen the moment he made it over the side. He was the first to react when the servant’s unconscious body appeared, crying to the soldiers to be careful, to watch his head and to put him down gently. ‘You call that gentle?’ he complained once Tecchen was flat on the deck, but it was a weak rebuke when there was so much blood on Tecchen’s face, soaked through his hair and smearing itself across Souta’s hands
‘How is he?’
The soldiers had fallen silent, Tuti’s mouth was drier than the desert and even Manabu had shut up, but somehow Besshi managed to form the quiet question they all wanted answered.
Souta’s response didn’t come immediately, but when it did it came out in a rush, ‘Unconscious. Main injury seems to be to the back of the head caused by a large, blunt object. He’s lost a lot of blood, possibly too much. He might wake. But even if he does, I don’t know if he’ll still have his wits. I can patch him up and make him comfortable, but he’s in the hands of the Gods. You’d better all pray for him. Hard.’
Swallowing sharply, Tuti snapped, ‘Captain, help the doctor get Tecchen below deck. Manabu, Tachibana, come here. Now.’
Turning on his heel so that he didn’t have to watch the soldiers and Besshi lift Tecchen’s limp, bloodied body, Tuti stomped back to the awning, dragging the others along in his wake. Dropping onto the cushions, with Takashi, Eiji, Daiki and Kime all settling themselves around him, Tuti gestured for the two soldiers to sit too. Both were fidgeting but it was the way Manabu’s gaze kept flickering off to Takashi that really riled Tuti so that he snapped, ‘Look at your prince when you’re in his presence, will you?’ before demanding, ‘What happened to Tecchen? Who attacked you?’
‘Well... err...’ Manabu shifted awkwardly under Tuti’s glare and glanced at Tachibana. ‘We don’t really know, your Highness.’
‘What do you mean?’
With one hand scratching the back of his head, Tachibana admitted, ‘We... we weren’t actually there when Tecchen was attacked.’
‘What? Then where were you?!’
‘Looking for the boat.’
‘And why were you doing that?’
‘Cause we decided it’d be easier to sail to Memphis than walk.’
Fighting to resist the urge to smack the dumb look off Manabu’s face that had accompanied the answer, Tuti ground out his next question, ‘So you two went looking for a boat you could borrow - and you left Tecchen and the sailor, Ptahhotep, alone?’
Silent nods were the only answers Tuti got from the soldiers.
‘Where did you leave them?’
‘Just on the bank, we... they were well out of sight I swear!’
Manabu nodded his agreement furiously, ‘There was a village nearby. Tecchen said he was tired and he wanted a rest. Ptahhotep was tired too, so we left them sharing a loaf while we went to find a boat. And we weren’t gone long, your Highness, cause once we found a boat we realised Tecchen still had the gold you gave us! So we ran back to him to get some so we could leave it in place of the boat, but by the time we got there he was like he is now, all cold and bloody and stuff.’
‘And Ptahhotep?’
‘He... well, he was gone, your Highness.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘We looked as best we could!’ Manabu sounded deeply offended at the question, something which only irritated Tuti more, especially when it was accompanied by another glance at Takashi.
‘So Ptahhotep is missing presumed... what? Dead?’
Manabu shrugged, Tachibana shifted on the cushions and Tuti wished briefly he was the kind of prince who banged people’s heads together when they were unhelpful.
‘Did you see signs of a struggle? Could someone have followed you and attacked them as soon as you left? Did you even hear anything? Do you know anything useful?’
‘I dunno,’ was the most the soldiers would say.
‘What makes you think they were attacked by an outsider?’ Eiji asked suddenly.
Tuti turned his head so fast his neck clicked, ‘What did you say?’
‘I know I don’t know this Ptahhotep guy but if he’s missing, Tecchen is unconscious and the gold... is the gold missing too?’ Eiji fired the question straight at the surprised soldiers, who nodded silently in reply. ‘The gold and the sailor are missing, either someone took both or, more likely, Ptahhotep took the gold from Tecchen and ran for it. For me, the more important question is what the four of them were doing so far from the Isis?’
Ignoring Eiji’s conclusions along with his awkward question, Tuti snapped to the soldiers, ‘Get below deck and report to Captain Washio. Unless you know anything that’s actually helpful?’
‘No, your Highness.’
‘Get out of here then.’
As Manabu and Tachibana stumbled away, Eiji asked loudly, ‘What by Re’s beard is going on here?’
But his wasn’t the only question being vocalised, Daiki too spoke up at the same time, but his question was directed at Kimeru. ‘Are you okay, Kime? You don’t look very well?’
‘Y-yes. I-I mean, no, I’m not feeling well, please excuse me.’
Getting jerkily to his feet, Kimeru gave Tuti a wobbly bow and scurried off, ignoring or not hearing the question Takashi called after him. ‘Shall we ask Souta to check on you? Kime?’
‘Don’t worry about him now,’ Tuti told his partner when Takashi half-rose to follow the manicurist. ‘I need you with me.’
‘What are we going to do then?’ was what Eiji wanted to know, but Tuti shook his head.
‘You and Daiki can do whatever you like; I need to think things through in peace before I act. Come on Takashi.’
***
‘Why are we back in here, Tuti?’ was the first question on Takashi’s lips when Tuti began barricading the cabin door.
‘Because this is the last place people will expect to look for me,’ Tuti answered, shoving the low table across the door and attempting to lift a chest that the night before had required two of them to move.
‘Apart from Captain Washio, Daiki and Eiji,’ Takashi pointed out. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the other end of the chest and helped Tuti haul it up on top of the table. ‘You really do defy logic sometimes, don’t you?’
‘Got to keep you on your toes,’ Tuti tried to grin, but it felt forced, and he wasn’t surprised when Takashi pulled him over to the single bed and made him sit down.
‘Okay then, what are you thinking?’
Tuti shook his head and would have rubbed at his eyes or run his hands through his hair, but Takashi had seized them both and was holding them captive, so that he had few options left but to look at his companion. It still took another prompt of ‘Tuti?’ to make him speak though.
‘I’m thinking I’ve made a terrible mistake and that Tecchen will probably die because of it,’ was what Tuti finally said aloud.
‘Souta doesn’t know that, it could go either way.’
‘It’s still my fault.’
‘Oh I see, you bashed his skull in, did you?’
‘Takashi...’
‘What do you want me to say, Tuti? You warned them it was going to be dangerous, you told them to be quiet, to not draw attention to themselves. You said our enemies would be looking out for people leaving the Isis and that they might try to stop or apprehend them. You did everything you could, but you also knew that for the sake of everyone on this ship, we needed them to go and take the risk. Yes, Tecchen’s been hurt and that sailor, what’s his name, Ptahhotep, is possibly dead. But Manabu and Tachibana are alive; they made it back here in one piece despite the attempts of whoever attacked the others. Thanks to those two, Tecchen is in the hands of the best doctor in the whole of Egypt and we know, Tuti do you hear me, we know that we’re being watched, followed, and that someone wishes us all harm.’
Looking up from his knees to meet Takashi’s gaze again, Tuti asked, ‘How is it you can make that sound like a good thing?’
‘Practice. Now shove over a bit, my legs are gonna go to sleep if I sit like this much longer.’
Tuti shuffled across the bed a little, making room for Takashi to rise from the crouch he’d been in and sit next to him instead. Takashi still had his hands held fast, his fingers wrapped tight round Tuti’s wrists, but Tuti was in no mood to yank his hands back, not when Takashi’s thumbs were making those weirdly reassuring little circles over his skin.
‘Tuti?’
‘Huh?’ Tuti jerked his head up again, hoping Takashi hadn’t noticed how he’d been hypnotised by Takashi’s hands.
‘What are we going to do now?’
Tuti paused before he answered, knowing without Takashi saying another word that they both needed a practical solution to latch onto, some way to make them feel like they were doing something to thwart their faceless, invisible enemy. Of course, that was easier said than done, all their attempts at arming themselves against attack had failed. One sailor, possibly two, had died today either through suspicious accident or deliberate action. Snakes had been left as deadly gifts, kidnappings had been faked and Tuti himself had been attacked in the street.
But what could they do, apart from sail on to Thebes with all speed?
‘I don’t know,’ Tuti admitted slowly. ‘I don’t know what to do next... unless...’
***
‘Do what you like?’ Eiji repeated as Tuti and Takashi disappeared below deck. ‘Just what kind of order is that?’
‘One requiring an imagination,’ Daiki answered, picking half-heartedly at the few left-over honey cakes that had been forgotten by everyone else. He was feeling a certain affinity with the discarded snacks, left behind by everyone else in favour of more important things, alone apart from a handful of increasingly sticky dates.
Eiji turned, apparently having not heard him, ‘So what do we do now?’
Daiki shrugged, ‘Wait for His Highness to come back?’
‘That doesn’t sound like much fun.’
‘You’ve got a better idea?’
Eiji scanned the deck but his eyes quickly returned to Daiki because there was simply nothing else to look at aside from the usual ropes, sails and sailors. ‘I don’t see anything up here that’s remotely entertaining - what about going below?’
***
‘They find one little snake in their bed, and they still don’t want to go back into their cabin?’ Eiji complained, dropping himself down into the gold-covered chair that stood in one corner of the royal cabin.
Daiki found himself answering automatically as he looked around for somewhere where he could sit, ‘What’s the matter, you feeling hard done by that we get their room and they get ours?’ before he surrendered to the inevitable and perched gingerly on the end of the bed. It wasn’t that he wanted to sit on the bed like he was waiting for something to happen, but the way Daiki saw it, his only other option was sitting on the floor and he had absolutely no intention of being at the other scribe’s feet.
‘But don’t you think it’s a little odd?’
Unable to stop himself from giving an unattractive snort of laughter, Daiki replied, ‘If this is what his Highness wants, then I’m not going to argue with him. Why are you so keen to?’
Much to Daiki’s surprise, the question made Eiji start and he shuffled about a bit before answering, ‘I’m not - I-I don’t mean... I’m not used to this, to working for this kind of man, you know my history -’
‘Bits of it.’
Ignoring the interruption, Eiji plunged on, ‘Soldiers aren’t like his Highness, no one is I guess, and - and you’re so comfortable with him -’
Daiki barked a laugh, but Eiji still wasn’t stopping.
‘And I know I’m not, I don’t know how to deal with the guy - how I’m meant to behave around him. And then there’s all this weird stuff happening to threaten him, people getting attacked by other members of the crew or falling overboard into a crocodile’s stomach and he seems more concerned about snakes biting his backside!’
‘His Highness’s reactions aren’t what you’d call “normal”,’ Daiki admitted, his curiosity peaked because Eiji’s voice was filled with more genuine confusion than Daiki had ever heard him express before.
‘Is anything?’
Laughing nervously, Daiki ran a hand through his hair and tried to sweep the conversation up into a neat pile, ‘He’s had an unusual life, an unusual childhood, one day he was just like the rest of us and then the next his father was Crown Prince, his grandfather was Pharaoh and he was royalty. So... yeah, he doesn’t always behave like a god in human form, he’s got his quirks, but that doesn’t make him a bad man to work for, just a more... more unpredictable one.’
Eiji still looked annoyingly sceptical, but Daiki didn’t know what else he could say on the subject - Tuti was Tuti, like him or loathe him, the guy was in charge and while he could be a bit overbearing sometimes, Daiki knew he could manage the prince’s grumpiness pretty well when he had to. Having Takashi around was a massive help, of course, and Captain Washio was pretty useful too in diluting or re-directing Tuti’s weird ideas or strange plans. Just what more was Eiji expecting him to say?
‘Sorry,’ Eiji said at last. ‘Guess all this is getting to me; that crocodile incident was nasty.’
‘Tecchen being attacked is nasty,’ pointed out Daiki. ‘Even if he recovers, Besshi’s going to take it badly.’
‘Yeah, they are a bit of a double-act, aren’t they?’
‘They’ve always worked together, I don't remember a time when they didn’t.’
‘You ever worked with another scribe for his Highness?’
The odd question made Daiki give his own flinch of surprise, ‘What, like how I work with you? No, never. His Highness has always tried to keep his entourage as small as possible.’
‘And yet he’s still got a personal manicurist and a doctor?’ Eiji’s mouth was doing something weird, some kind of half-smile that, added to the way his eyebrow was raised in amused scepticism, made Daiki grin.
‘I don’t think his Highness had anything to do with Kimeru joining the voyage! That’ll have been his father’s doing.’
‘Still, his Highness seems to get along with him pretty well…’
Daiki shrugged, ‘His Highness can get along with anyone, so long as he chooses to, and besides, Kimeru’s friends with Lord Takashi so that automatically boosts him up in his Highness’s opinion - regardless of whether Tuti likes it or not!’
‘But you’ve never met him before?’
‘Who? Kimeru?’ Daiki paused for a moment. ‘No, I don’t think we’ve met, I don’t exactly have much call for a manicure and if anyone’s going to paint up his Highness for some important ceremony then usually it’s Lord Takashi.’
Something in the suggestion made Eiji laugh, and Daiki couldn’t help giving a wider grin in response as he continued, ‘Souta on the other hand, he has known his Highness a while. He did his apprenticeship with a snake-and-scorpion man who used to work for the army under his Highness’s father, clearing dangerous animals from areas where men would be sleeping, healing bites and stings, that sort of thing. But that’s Souta all over, always been interested in deserts and poisons and the things most people are happy not knowing.’
‘Deserts?’ Eiji queried.
‘Oh yeah, Souta’s travelled all over Egypt, right out to the oases in the west and to Byblos and Sinai in the east. He’s probably seen even more of the empire than his Highness has!’
‘And beyond the empire?’
‘Why would anyone go beyond it?’
‘People have their reasons.’
The vague answer accompanied by a frown that was drifting slowly across Eiji’s face made Daiki sit up a fraction straighter. ‘What are you suggesting?’ he asked quietly.
Eiji’s face cleared, frown evaporating into an easy smile, as he answered, ‘I’m not suggesting anything.’
‘Then why all the questions?’ Daiki persisted. ‘It’s not just tonight. Ever since we met you’ve done nothing but ask questions and yet you never give any answers of your own. You’ve asked me about Captain Washio, Lord Takashi, his Highness and me and how we all know each other and how long for. You’ve asked about Tecchen and Besshi, about Kimeru and now you’re asking about Souta.’
Eiji’s reply was a laugh, ‘Oh Daiki, do you have to make me sound so sinister? I’m sorry if you think I’ve been nosy, but I’m the new guy here, all of you know each other - or seem to - and the only person I know even slightly is you. Maybe I have been asking too many questions, but this job’s a bit daunting. We can’t all be as sure of ourselves as you.’
Daiki could feel his face beginning to burn, his silly, half-formed accusations ringing hollow and delusional in his ears as Eiji continued to chuckle. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise, it’s my own fault for being so nosy.’ Shifting in his chair, Eiji’s grin slipped wider, ‘And if I’m so bad at answering your questions, why don’t you put me on the spot now?’
TBC
Author: Dria
Rating: PG
Previous Chapters: One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen.
Summary: Everyone has something to say as Manabu, Tachibana and Tecchen return from their thwarted mission, and Tuti has to decide what to do next.
Author's Notes: This is the chapter of Epic Dialogue. Seriously, the guys would not stop talking >_> This chapter will also have to suffice for two weeks rather than the usual one as there will be no Cracked next Monday (I'm going away. Again ^^;), instead, Chapter 15 will appear on Monday 17th November. Till then, enjoy!
‘We were attacked!’
While Tuti could only stare as Manabu repeated himself, Takashi’s voice rose loud and clear, ‘Summon Souta! Washio, get Tecchen out of there!’
It was Takashi who hauled on Tuti’s arm, pulling him back from the bows as Captain Washio and his men rushed forward, ropes in their arms and a sheet stretching between them. Right behind them was Besshi, who was in such a hurry he skidded on the deck and almost pitched himself over the side but for the quick reactions of one of the soldiers. When even a push from Captain Washio didn’t stop Besshi from trying to get involved Tuti grabbed his servant by the shoulder, yanking him back with a snap of, ‘We’ve already lost one man today to the crocodiles, do you want to be the second?!’
The mumbling answer he got was meaningless because neither Tuti nor Takashi were paying any attention to it when the soldiers were already throwing the rough sling over the side. Captain Washio was barking orders at everyone and anyone but his voice didn’t drown out the continuing monologue of Manabu from below. Tuti could only catch fractions of sentences and none of it was reassuring, which made him yell at Captain Washio, ‘Move faster!’
Souta was with them now, breathing hard, his short hair attempting to stand on end as he bobbed about to try and see Tecchen the moment he made it over the side. He was the first to react when the servant’s unconscious body appeared, crying to the soldiers to be careful, to watch his head and to put him down gently. ‘You call that gentle?’ he complained once Tecchen was flat on the deck, but it was a weak rebuke when there was so much blood on Tecchen’s face, soaked through his hair and smearing itself across Souta’s hands
‘How is he?’
The soldiers had fallen silent, Tuti’s mouth was drier than the desert and even Manabu had shut up, but somehow Besshi managed to form the quiet question they all wanted answered.
Souta’s response didn’t come immediately, but when it did it came out in a rush, ‘Unconscious. Main injury seems to be to the back of the head caused by a large, blunt object. He’s lost a lot of blood, possibly too much. He might wake. But even if he does, I don’t know if he’ll still have his wits. I can patch him up and make him comfortable, but he’s in the hands of the Gods. You’d better all pray for him. Hard.’
Swallowing sharply, Tuti snapped, ‘Captain, help the doctor get Tecchen below deck. Manabu, Tachibana, come here. Now.’
Turning on his heel so that he didn’t have to watch the soldiers and Besshi lift Tecchen’s limp, bloodied body, Tuti stomped back to the awning, dragging the others along in his wake. Dropping onto the cushions, with Takashi, Eiji, Daiki and Kime all settling themselves around him, Tuti gestured for the two soldiers to sit too. Both were fidgeting but it was the way Manabu’s gaze kept flickering off to Takashi that really riled Tuti so that he snapped, ‘Look at your prince when you’re in his presence, will you?’ before demanding, ‘What happened to Tecchen? Who attacked you?’
‘Well... err...’ Manabu shifted awkwardly under Tuti’s glare and glanced at Tachibana. ‘We don’t really know, your Highness.’
‘What do you mean?’
With one hand scratching the back of his head, Tachibana admitted, ‘We... we weren’t actually there when Tecchen was attacked.’
‘What? Then where were you?!’
‘Looking for the boat.’
‘And why were you doing that?’
‘Cause we decided it’d be easier to sail to Memphis than walk.’
Fighting to resist the urge to smack the dumb look off Manabu’s face that had accompanied the answer, Tuti ground out his next question, ‘So you two went looking for a boat you could borrow - and you left Tecchen and the sailor, Ptahhotep, alone?’
Silent nods were the only answers Tuti got from the soldiers.
‘Where did you leave them?’
‘Just on the bank, we... they were well out of sight I swear!’
Manabu nodded his agreement furiously, ‘There was a village nearby. Tecchen said he was tired and he wanted a rest. Ptahhotep was tired too, so we left them sharing a loaf while we went to find a boat. And we weren’t gone long, your Highness, cause once we found a boat we realised Tecchen still had the gold you gave us! So we ran back to him to get some so we could leave it in place of the boat, but by the time we got there he was like he is now, all cold and bloody and stuff.’
‘And Ptahhotep?’
‘He... well, he was gone, your Highness.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘We looked as best we could!’ Manabu sounded deeply offended at the question, something which only irritated Tuti more, especially when it was accompanied by another glance at Takashi.
‘So Ptahhotep is missing presumed... what? Dead?’
Manabu shrugged, Tachibana shifted on the cushions and Tuti wished briefly he was the kind of prince who banged people’s heads together when they were unhelpful.
‘Did you see signs of a struggle? Could someone have followed you and attacked them as soon as you left? Did you even hear anything? Do you know anything useful?’
‘I dunno,’ was the most the soldiers would say.
‘What makes you think they were attacked by an outsider?’ Eiji asked suddenly.
Tuti turned his head so fast his neck clicked, ‘What did you say?’
‘I know I don’t know this Ptahhotep guy but if he’s missing, Tecchen is unconscious and the gold... is the gold missing too?’ Eiji fired the question straight at the surprised soldiers, who nodded silently in reply. ‘The gold and the sailor are missing, either someone took both or, more likely, Ptahhotep took the gold from Tecchen and ran for it. For me, the more important question is what the four of them were doing so far from the Isis?’
Ignoring Eiji’s conclusions along with his awkward question, Tuti snapped to the soldiers, ‘Get below deck and report to Captain Washio. Unless you know anything that’s actually helpful?’
‘No, your Highness.’
‘Get out of here then.’
As Manabu and Tachibana stumbled away, Eiji asked loudly, ‘What by Re’s beard is going on here?’
But his wasn’t the only question being vocalised, Daiki too spoke up at the same time, but his question was directed at Kimeru. ‘Are you okay, Kime? You don’t look very well?’
‘Y-yes. I-I mean, no, I’m not feeling well, please excuse me.’
Getting jerkily to his feet, Kimeru gave Tuti a wobbly bow and scurried off, ignoring or not hearing the question Takashi called after him. ‘Shall we ask Souta to check on you? Kime?’
‘Don’t worry about him now,’ Tuti told his partner when Takashi half-rose to follow the manicurist. ‘I need you with me.’
‘What are we going to do then?’ was what Eiji wanted to know, but Tuti shook his head.
‘You and Daiki can do whatever you like; I need to think things through in peace before I act. Come on Takashi.’
***
‘Why are we back in here, Tuti?’ was the first question on Takashi’s lips when Tuti began barricading the cabin door.
‘Because this is the last place people will expect to look for me,’ Tuti answered, shoving the low table across the door and attempting to lift a chest that the night before had required two of them to move.
‘Apart from Captain Washio, Daiki and Eiji,’ Takashi pointed out. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the other end of the chest and helped Tuti haul it up on top of the table. ‘You really do defy logic sometimes, don’t you?’
‘Got to keep you on your toes,’ Tuti tried to grin, but it felt forced, and he wasn’t surprised when Takashi pulled him over to the single bed and made him sit down.
‘Okay then, what are you thinking?’
Tuti shook his head and would have rubbed at his eyes or run his hands through his hair, but Takashi had seized them both and was holding them captive, so that he had few options left but to look at his companion. It still took another prompt of ‘Tuti?’ to make him speak though.
‘I’m thinking I’ve made a terrible mistake and that Tecchen will probably die because of it,’ was what Tuti finally said aloud.
‘Souta doesn’t know that, it could go either way.’
‘It’s still my fault.’
‘Oh I see, you bashed his skull in, did you?’
‘Takashi...’
‘What do you want me to say, Tuti? You warned them it was going to be dangerous, you told them to be quiet, to not draw attention to themselves. You said our enemies would be looking out for people leaving the Isis and that they might try to stop or apprehend them. You did everything you could, but you also knew that for the sake of everyone on this ship, we needed them to go and take the risk. Yes, Tecchen’s been hurt and that sailor, what’s his name, Ptahhotep, is possibly dead. But Manabu and Tachibana are alive; they made it back here in one piece despite the attempts of whoever attacked the others. Thanks to those two, Tecchen is in the hands of the best doctor in the whole of Egypt and we know, Tuti do you hear me, we know that we’re being watched, followed, and that someone wishes us all harm.’
Looking up from his knees to meet Takashi’s gaze again, Tuti asked, ‘How is it you can make that sound like a good thing?’
‘Practice. Now shove over a bit, my legs are gonna go to sleep if I sit like this much longer.’
Tuti shuffled across the bed a little, making room for Takashi to rise from the crouch he’d been in and sit next to him instead. Takashi still had his hands held fast, his fingers wrapped tight round Tuti’s wrists, but Tuti was in no mood to yank his hands back, not when Takashi’s thumbs were making those weirdly reassuring little circles over his skin.
‘Tuti?’
‘Huh?’ Tuti jerked his head up again, hoping Takashi hadn’t noticed how he’d been hypnotised by Takashi’s hands.
‘What are we going to do now?’
Tuti paused before he answered, knowing without Takashi saying another word that they both needed a practical solution to latch onto, some way to make them feel like they were doing something to thwart their faceless, invisible enemy. Of course, that was easier said than done, all their attempts at arming themselves against attack had failed. One sailor, possibly two, had died today either through suspicious accident or deliberate action. Snakes had been left as deadly gifts, kidnappings had been faked and Tuti himself had been attacked in the street.
But what could they do, apart from sail on to Thebes with all speed?
‘I don’t know,’ Tuti admitted slowly. ‘I don’t know what to do next... unless...’
***
‘Do what you like?’ Eiji repeated as Tuti and Takashi disappeared below deck. ‘Just what kind of order is that?’
‘One requiring an imagination,’ Daiki answered, picking half-heartedly at the few left-over honey cakes that had been forgotten by everyone else. He was feeling a certain affinity with the discarded snacks, left behind by everyone else in favour of more important things, alone apart from a handful of increasingly sticky dates.
Eiji turned, apparently having not heard him, ‘So what do we do now?’
Daiki shrugged, ‘Wait for His Highness to come back?’
‘That doesn’t sound like much fun.’
‘You’ve got a better idea?’
Eiji scanned the deck but his eyes quickly returned to Daiki because there was simply nothing else to look at aside from the usual ropes, sails and sailors. ‘I don’t see anything up here that’s remotely entertaining - what about going below?’
***
‘They find one little snake in their bed, and they still don’t want to go back into their cabin?’ Eiji complained, dropping himself down into the gold-covered chair that stood in one corner of the royal cabin.
Daiki found himself answering automatically as he looked around for somewhere where he could sit, ‘What’s the matter, you feeling hard done by that we get their room and they get ours?’ before he surrendered to the inevitable and perched gingerly on the end of the bed. It wasn’t that he wanted to sit on the bed like he was waiting for something to happen, but the way Daiki saw it, his only other option was sitting on the floor and he had absolutely no intention of being at the other scribe’s feet.
‘But don’t you think it’s a little odd?’
Unable to stop himself from giving an unattractive snort of laughter, Daiki replied, ‘If this is what his Highness wants, then I’m not going to argue with him. Why are you so keen to?’
Much to Daiki’s surprise, the question made Eiji start and he shuffled about a bit before answering, ‘I’m not - I-I don’t mean... I’m not used to this, to working for this kind of man, you know my history -’
‘Bits of it.’
Ignoring the interruption, Eiji plunged on, ‘Soldiers aren’t like his Highness, no one is I guess, and - and you’re so comfortable with him -’
Daiki barked a laugh, but Eiji still wasn’t stopping.
‘And I know I’m not, I don’t know how to deal with the guy - how I’m meant to behave around him. And then there’s all this weird stuff happening to threaten him, people getting attacked by other members of the crew or falling overboard into a crocodile’s stomach and he seems more concerned about snakes biting his backside!’
‘His Highness’s reactions aren’t what you’d call “normal”,’ Daiki admitted, his curiosity peaked because Eiji’s voice was filled with more genuine confusion than Daiki had ever heard him express before.
‘Is anything?’
Laughing nervously, Daiki ran a hand through his hair and tried to sweep the conversation up into a neat pile, ‘He’s had an unusual life, an unusual childhood, one day he was just like the rest of us and then the next his father was Crown Prince, his grandfather was Pharaoh and he was royalty. So... yeah, he doesn’t always behave like a god in human form, he’s got his quirks, but that doesn’t make him a bad man to work for, just a more... more unpredictable one.’
Eiji still looked annoyingly sceptical, but Daiki didn’t know what else he could say on the subject - Tuti was Tuti, like him or loathe him, the guy was in charge and while he could be a bit overbearing sometimes, Daiki knew he could manage the prince’s grumpiness pretty well when he had to. Having Takashi around was a massive help, of course, and Captain Washio was pretty useful too in diluting or re-directing Tuti’s weird ideas or strange plans. Just what more was Eiji expecting him to say?
‘Sorry,’ Eiji said at last. ‘Guess all this is getting to me; that crocodile incident was nasty.’
‘Tecchen being attacked is nasty,’ pointed out Daiki. ‘Even if he recovers, Besshi’s going to take it badly.’
‘Yeah, they are a bit of a double-act, aren’t they?’
‘They’ve always worked together, I don't remember a time when they didn’t.’
‘You ever worked with another scribe for his Highness?’
The odd question made Daiki give his own flinch of surprise, ‘What, like how I work with you? No, never. His Highness has always tried to keep his entourage as small as possible.’
‘And yet he’s still got a personal manicurist and a doctor?’ Eiji’s mouth was doing something weird, some kind of half-smile that, added to the way his eyebrow was raised in amused scepticism, made Daiki grin.
‘I don’t think his Highness had anything to do with Kimeru joining the voyage! That’ll have been his father’s doing.’
‘Still, his Highness seems to get along with him pretty well…’
Daiki shrugged, ‘His Highness can get along with anyone, so long as he chooses to, and besides, Kimeru’s friends with Lord Takashi so that automatically boosts him up in his Highness’s opinion - regardless of whether Tuti likes it or not!’
‘But you’ve never met him before?’
‘Who? Kimeru?’ Daiki paused for a moment. ‘No, I don’t think we’ve met, I don’t exactly have much call for a manicure and if anyone’s going to paint up his Highness for some important ceremony then usually it’s Lord Takashi.’
Something in the suggestion made Eiji laugh, and Daiki couldn’t help giving a wider grin in response as he continued, ‘Souta on the other hand, he has known his Highness a while. He did his apprenticeship with a snake-and-scorpion man who used to work for the army under his Highness’s father, clearing dangerous animals from areas where men would be sleeping, healing bites and stings, that sort of thing. But that’s Souta all over, always been interested in deserts and poisons and the things most people are happy not knowing.’
‘Deserts?’ Eiji queried.
‘Oh yeah, Souta’s travelled all over Egypt, right out to the oases in the west and to Byblos and Sinai in the east. He’s probably seen even more of the empire than his Highness has!’
‘And beyond the empire?’
‘Why would anyone go beyond it?’
‘People have their reasons.’
The vague answer accompanied by a frown that was drifting slowly across Eiji’s face made Daiki sit up a fraction straighter. ‘What are you suggesting?’ he asked quietly.
Eiji’s face cleared, frown evaporating into an easy smile, as he answered, ‘I’m not suggesting anything.’
‘Then why all the questions?’ Daiki persisted. ‘It’s not just tonight. Ever since we met you’ve done nothing but ask questions and yet you never give any answers of your own. You’ve asked me about Captain Washio, Lord Takashi, his Highness and me and how we all know each other and how long for. You’ve asked about Tecchen and Besshi, about Kimeru and now you’re asking about Souta.’
Eiji’s reply was a laugh, ‘Oh Daiki, do you have to make me sound so sinister? I’m sorry if you think I’ve been nosy, but I’m the new guy here, all of you know each other - or seem to - and the only person I know even slightly is you. Maybe I have been asking too many questions, but this job’s a bit daunting. We can’t all be as sure of ourselves as you.’
Daiki could feel his face beginning to burn, his silly, half-formed accusations ringing hollow and delusional in his ears as Eiji continued to chuckle. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise, it’s my own fault for being so nosy.’ Shifting in his chair, Eiji’s grin slipped wider, ‘And if I’m so bad at answering your questions, why don’t you put me on the spot now?’
TBC