My Apprentice

Bakura’s POV

We woke up before the dawn. I had learned to wake up and make burnt offerings to Osiris before going to work. It made each raid of a tomb or robbery of a noble’s house successful. If my Protector demanded sacrifice for a profitable outcome, then so be it.

I turned over to see Marik asleep. He really has come a long way from when he stole his first ring from a noble lady’s finger. My apprentice was eager to learn. That was a good sign.

As he slept, my eyes examined his body. Marik was a beautiful specimen of male beauty. He was strong, and his skin was a gorgeous dark tan. His skin was much darker than my own, his hair a golden blond. Each time I heard him with a woman or imagined with a woman, I got aroused. It wasn’t the fact that he was with a woman that made me want to pound him into the sand beneath us, it was the thought of him naked, seating, and whimpering that drove me into madness.

If only he could feel that way for me……

If only he could love me that way….

If only……

There’s no time for this! I got up and shook Marik awake. His purple eyes opened. “What?”

“Time to eat and get to work. The early bird catches the pharaoh’s treasure.”

I couldn’t help but smile, thinking of all the gold in that tomb just waiting for me to touch it and possess it!

We both woke up and we bathed in the spring again. A half of a bread loaf was our breakfast and we set out

******************

We arrived at Yami’s grandfather’s tomb. I removed my bag from my horse and told her to remain where she was standing. Marik raised his eyebrow to me.

“What is in that bag?”

I smiled at him. “Seven tools of a bandit, Ishtar. Hammer. Chisel. Dagger. Torch. Flint. Stone. Wine.”

“Why the wine?”

I smirked at him. Poor Ishtar. “For celebrating. Now, the first rule of robbing a tomb is not letting your guard down. If you are not careful, you could get killed, or even worse, caught by Yami’s soldiers.”

“Wouldn’t death be worse?”

I removed the chisel and hammer from the bag. “I have to be honest with you, Marik. To be caught by Yami is a fate worse than death. His prisoners are tortured, raped, starved. Yami lets no crime go unpunished. Trust me. I know.”

Marik took my arm. “What did he do to you, Bakura?”

I bit my lip. “I was caught stealing an apple from a cart when I was seven. I was put before Pharaoh Yami and he tied me to a pole and I was given seven lashes with a whip. He threw me in jail for three days without food and water. After that, he let me go. Yami told me that if he ever saw me in the jail again, he would punish me more severely than what he did before.”

“You were seven?”

I nodded. It wasn’t the worst punishment I had ever gotten in my life. “I was seven.” I took a deep breath. “Rule number two, Ishtar: Concentrate. If you do not concentrate, you screw up. If you screw up, you are as good as dead.”

Picking up my hammer and chisel, we approached the entrance. I carved between the doors to break the seal.

Once the seal was broken, I told Marik to get on the other side. We both pushed and the door flew open.”

“Yami sealed the door to his grandfather’s tomb. Many of the tombs I’ve been in have had their seals broken or disintegrated. You need to break the seal to get into the tomb.”

Marik grabbed the bag when I handed it to him.

“Grab the flint and the stone.” My hands held the torch. “Light the torch. Like I taught you how to light the campfire.”

Marik lit the torch. It took him a little time to get used to it, but he did it.

“Now, when you enter a tomb, tread carefully. Do not be too eager and dash in. I’ll have to peel you out from under a rock if you do. Yami is famous for his false floors and falling archways. I will go first.”

I took the torch from Marik. The thrill of the work was enough to get my senses tingling. My hands became sweaty and I found myself shaking a little from anticipation. There was also the anxiety at being caught, but, the thrill of escape and the act of thievery itself was enough to get me shaky.

It was dark. The stench was enough to make even the strongest man run away in disgust.

Marik covered his nose and mouth with a cloth. “What is that awful smell?”

I didn’t keep my eyes off of where I was walking. To do so would condemn Marik and I to death. “That is the smell of death,” I said without sounding bothered or concerned. I had grown so used to the smell of death in the poor sections of Cairo that it never bothered me. I played among the corpses when I was five. My favorite game was to jump over their bodies. Corpses and garbage were my toys when I was five. That is all

I had. No friends. Few who cared about me. I was alone with only the dead as my companions. Before Marik had come into my life, all I had was the darkness as my companion. Darkness shielded me from everyone, kept me blissfully hidden. No one could find me at night and in the dark. The dark was the only companion who heard my prayers for companionship and the strength to carry on. I kept myself hidden from eyes which threatened me in the daytime. The dawn knew no reprieve. When the light returned, I was once again regrettably exposed to the world, and another day of physical and emotional torture.

I can’t let myself be preoccupied! I have to keep my mind on the task at hand!

“Doesn’t the smell bother you?”

“Soon you will see enough death and it will not bother you. Death puts food in my stomach and puts money in my pocket. You won’t fear the smell of death after this, Ishtar.”

We walked down the hall and encountered a chamber. Before walking in, I stopped. “Remove the stone from the bag. Throw it into the room. Be sure to hit something on the floor.”

Marik threw it and, as I suspected, three spears were struck the gold serving dish.

“What the?! What happened?”

I entered the room carefully looking around the ceiling of the chamber. “You must be wary of traps set by the pharaoh to keep the body and its treasure safe. Check the ceiling of the chamber carefully. That is why I told you to throw the stone. You have to set off any traps before you enter a room.”

“How many other traps can there be?”

“Tons. We’re not done yet.”

We entered the room slowly. I knew Yami loved putting false floors where one could fall into a chasm.

I found a gold necklace with gold, dangling pointers. It had a pyramid in the middle with an eye in its very center. I put the necklace around my neck and listened to the points clang together.

Without warning, the necklace began to glow!

“What the hell?!” I almost screamed. My first instinct should have been to remove the damn thing from my neck! Who knows what this necklace could do? Then again…….

This is treasure!

No.

This is MY treasure! I could do something with this, I’m certain.

The ring-like necklace dangled as we grabbed some basic jewels. Ruby, sapphire, and onyx stones filled one of our bags. We entered the next room and I found a nice statue of Osiris that would look perfect on Rayna’s table in her room. Then she would always be reminded of me. I could carve an inscription into it that would last forever! I always gave Rayna a little prize anyway.

Marik grabbed a statue of Isis that he caressed gently. He smiled at it lovingly. “Queen Isis,” he whispered.

“Are you going to take it?”

“I will, but I will place it by our lake.”

Marik needed a little place to call his own. He could always put he statue of Isis some distance away.

He put the statue in the bag. I put the bag down and grabbed two more out of my robe. Four bags of treasure is all we could hold.

“Rule number three: Don’t overload your horse. If you pack too much, your escape will be impossible.”

We went into the next room cautiously, when the floor gave out beneath us. I jumped ahead on instinct, but Marik remained as the floor fell from beneath his feet.

“MARIK!”

I whipped around and grabbed his wrist before he could plummet.

“BAKURA! ITEMRI, DON’T LET GO!”

I struggled to hold onto him! I couldn’t let him go! “Grab onto the ledge and I’ll pull you up!”

My heart was beating quicker than ever! I couldn’t let my shaky hand get the best of me. I pulled Marik to the floor safely. Both of us breathed heavily. “Are you ok?”

“NO! I’M NOT OKAY! I WAS ALMOST KILLED!”

My hand pat his back. “It’s a hazard of the job, Marik. There’s a chance anytime that the wall can collapsed and trap us in here, suffocating us. We could die of suffocation, hunger, or thirst. That’s part of being a tomb robber.”

I stood up and looked around the room. Two mummified greyhounds stood on either sides of a table covered in treasure. A black book sat on the table.

“The Book of the Dead?” Marik went to it and opened it. “No. It’s another book. “The Book of Prophecy?”

I looked at the walls. These were strange carvings.

“This isn’t a typical tomb, Marik.”

“I thought you said this was Yami’s grandfather’s tomb.”

I nodded. “It is, but the old man doesn’t have anything written here to direct his way through the Underworld.”

“No? That is odd. Myfamily made certain their tomb had the carvings on their tomb done properly.”

I ran my hands over the wall. “It says, ‘Beware of the spiky-haired demon who shall be ruthlessly controlled by greed in his quest to seek ultimate power.’

Spiky-haired demon? Who could that refer to? I scratched my spiky hair.

“Take that book. We never know when we’ll have time to read.”

Marik went to the other wall. “This sounds interesting: ‘The demon shall only be stopped by an act of sacrifice.’ Who is this wall talking about? These things are supposed to guide the dead, not this.”

“We cannot stay here much longer, Marik. Our horses are out there and I don’t like to be exposed for too long.”

We entered the next room and found scrolls. More strange carvings lined the walls. I turned to the side and I jumped back.

“Look!”

Marik looked over and we gazed at the wall covered with a drawing of a black dragon with spikes and bloody claws. At its side stood a girl with spiky hair. I approached the carving slowly, scared by the red eyes on the dragon. How could a carving shake me up?

I looked at the carving. I read the carving by its foot. “It says, ‘This dragon shall instill terror in every mortal heart. Its master, a child of humble birth, shall command it. With the Nightmare Dragon by her side, she will unleash chaos and destruction.’”

Marik shifted nervously. “Bakura, I think it’s time to leave.”
“Why?”

“I feel like something is wrong. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like we have to leave right now.’

I usually get afraid of being in tombs this long myself. Being in such a dark, hot, and stinky place of death will do that to you. “Ok. We can have the wine when we get back home.”
Marik grabbed my wrist. “We have to go, Itemri!”

I grabbed some more jewelry on the way out and grabbed the bag in the treasure room.

We ran out when we heard the call of Anubis from some distance away. Our horses were making a commotion. I put the treasure on my horse and we galloped off.

Anubis wasn’t far behind us as his weapons hit near our horses.

“We can’t lead him back to our home! We have to lose him!”

I looked all over for a place to lose him. The roar of Anubis’ army sent chills through my heart as we rode for our lives. I will not be his prisoner again!

I turned my horse around and started galloping towards Anubis’ army.

Marik looked over his shoulder. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? ARE YOU CRAZY?”

“You want me, Anubis? COME GET ME!”

I galloped towards Anubis and suddenly turned my horse left to the edge of his legion. I removed my dagger from my waistband. My horse approached a soldier and my arm drew back. I plunged my dagger into his neck. His body shook and blood poured out of the wound. The soldier fell off his horse when I removed my dagger from his throat. A pile of soldiers and horses fell as they tripped and trampled over the fallen soldier.

My horse continued on its course and my dagger clashed with an armed soldier. I slashed the dagger across his face and he fell, making another pile of fallen horses and trampled soldiers. Marik continued to ride for the Oasis.

“NO! DON’T DO IT, MARIK!”

Marik turned his horse to the left. He galloped quickly to the left as I tried to distract Anubis’ army. That cocky general galloped towards me and I did the same. I galloped towards him, sweat covering my forehead.

I was going to die.

This couldn’t work.

Anubis raised his sword, intent on cutting my head off, when with a single stroke of my blade, I slit the throat of Anubis’ horse. His horse gurgled and fell over, crushing Anubis’ right leg underneath its bleeding, twitching body.

I fingered the Ring around my neck and smiled. “No today, Anubis!” I galloped off to find Marik, still pursued by thirty men.

Marik was dodging quite well. I threw my dagger into the back of one of the soldiers and stole his sword. I approached the back of the group and cut down ten more soldiers. The rest of the soldiers retreated.

My horse continued home to the Oasis. We arrived home and we jumped off our horses. I ran over to him and grabbed him. I pulled him close to me.

Our hearts raced with the thrill of escape and excitement. A spark of desire struck through me like lightening.

Marik looked into my eyes and I looked into his purple pools.

At that moment, something struck us both.

I grabbed his lips, unable to contain my desires and emotions anymore.

“Bakura?”

“Ishtar?”

“I want you.”