Mate in a Village

Chapter 2: A Vision

Yami was in his room, buttoning his last few, and placing his crown on his head when a knock came to the door.

“Enter.”

Seto did so.
“Are you ready, Pharaoh?”

“Seto…” the Pharaoh said in a warning tone.

“Fine then, Yami,” the man chuckled.
“Come. We mustn’t be late.”

Yami looked at his friend as he extended his arms.
“What do you think? Is it royal enough?”

The asked man looked the other down.
“I suppose. But the women of the village won’t be able to hold their shrieks in their own mouths nor the men their hands in their own pockets.”

“You flatter me,” Yami said, sarcasm all but dripping from his voice.
He sighed.
“Well then, shall we be off?”
**

“Here you are, Milord,” the stableman said as he brought out Yami’s horse.

It was a beautiful white color with black on its nose and on the tops of her ears. Yami had been given the horse by his father when it was just a colt. He had named it Anippe, meaning ‘Daughter of Nile’. He called her Ani for short.

“And your horse, High Priest,” said a second stableman.

It was light brown in color with dark brown covering its chest, stomach and his legs starting from his hooves to his knees. He had named his horse Shu, meaning ‘Air’.

Yami mounted his horse and patted the side of her neck.
“Alright, Ani girl. Are you ready?”

As if in answer, the horse neighed and bucked her head back.

Yami laughed.
“Then let us go.”

The stablemen pushed open the stable doors to reveal the bright sun and several guards awaiting their Pharaoh.

As Yami and Seto trotted out, they led the sentinels on their way to the village for the search of the Pharaoh’s mate.
**

“All hail to the great and powerful ruler of our grate land,” a man with a deep and dominant voice boomed out into the kingdom.
All the girls of the township cooed as some male occupants bustled about, all wearing their best, which didn’t mean much when all they owned were robes and rags.

Yami strode on his mount through the crowd of fluttering and winking girls of all ages and…facial features, as well as the occasional male of each size.
He looked on both sides of himself as he searched for something that he believed could not be found in sight alone.

“I am searching in vain,” he whispered to Seto.
“There is no humanly possible way that I can find love in this fashion.”

Seto frowned in understanding.

As they ventured on, a man ran up to them, dragging a young girl by the arm.

“My lord!” he demanded.
“My lord!!”

Yami stopped his horse to look at the man. He was older and very rigid. His shoulders were broad and had large muscles and a very weathered face caused by hard slave labor.

The man heaved the girl in front of himself.
“Take this girl! She is my only daughter and she will make a fine wife! She cooks, cleans, and has fine femininity!”

He pushed the girl to her knees before their horses.

Yami, feeling for the girl, dismounted his steed and walked to the teen.
He kneeled before her, the girl keeping her head lowered as her tears racked her form.

“Miss…”

The girl looked up showing her dirty and sad face.

“You do not wish to merry me, yes?”

The girl looked hesitant, but swallowed.
“With all do respect, sire…no.”

Yami nodded his head, lightly smiling. He stood and looked to his guards.

“Take this man to be punished for forcing this young woman against her will…” he looked the man in his evil eye, “…which is something I will not tolerate.”

“What?!” the man screeched.

Two guards came and took him by each arm to be given his sentence.
“You can’t do this! She is my daughter! I do as I wish!!”
The man’s hollers faded as he was conducted further away.

Yami turned to the girl who had stood after the man had been hauled away.
“What is your name?”

“Dalila.”

“Do you have a mother?...siblings?”

The girl shook her head.
“No one, Pharaoh.”

“Fine then.”
He turned to the Priest.
“Seto, you wouldn’t mind letting Dalila ride Shu with you?”

“No. It would be no problem at all.”

“How would you like a job at the palace?” he addressed the girl once more.

She shook her head.
“I would be eternally grateful, Milord. Thank you oh so much!” she said bowing.

Yami nodded and headed back to his horse as Dalila mounted Shu with Seto’s help.

“We carry on!” he yelled to his crew.
**

They had been searching for several hours now and with the combination of the failures, the tedious antics, and the heat, they were all exhausted.

‘Please, Ra. Let this day end in the very near future,’ Yami pleaded.

“Sire!” a guard bellowed.

‘Oh, what now?’
“Yes?”

The guard trotted up to Yami on his mare.
“We are almost at the end of the kingdom. Do you wish to return now or continue the rest of the path?”

“We turn back. There is no sense in finishing this wild goose chase,” he said irritably.

“Aye, Milord.”
The guard turned around to inform the rest of the troop.

Yami sighed, exasperated. As he made to turn his horse around, he heard a noise of several heavy items being dropped.

As much as he wanted to go back, Yami went against his obligations and turned back around.
In the near distance, he saw a boy, a few years younger than himself, lean, and very handsome.

The boy was of short stature and had spikes that rose toward the sky, just as the Pharaoh’s, but boasted violet tips in place of crimson.
The boy had been lugging long, thin sheets of metal from the interior of a shack to a pile on the outside. He had been doing this toil, what seemed to be all day, for the pile was quite large.
The young man heaved a sigh as he leaned his body against a pole, panting.

Yami watched the body, intrigued.

The said boy stretched his stressed neck before he walked over to a large water filled barrel. In it was a small cup attached to a long rod.
He took hold of the dowel and removed the cup, scooping out some fresh water. He brought it up to his cherry red lips and drank. After panting more, he removed his shirt exposing his well-built torso, chest, and arms. He, again, took hold of the cup and poured it down his body; another on his head causing his hair to hang around his shoulders slightly. The teen shook his flock of hair like a wet dog, making his hair perk up, somewhat.

‘Is he a vision?’ Yami thought to himself.
‘Or perhaps an angel sent from the heavens to tell me a message, a warning…he can’t be real.’

Yami rode forward at a slow pace.

The boy heard the sound of the hoofs against the dry, sandy ground and looked up to see his ruler.
He was taken aback and froze.

Yami, for the second time, dismounted and walked toward the other and stopped.

They both stood, watching the other with curious eyes and a bit of shock.

“Yugi…Yugi! I don’t hear you working!” a man from in the nearby house called but the said boy didn’t move.

The cranky man came out.
“Yugi! How many times do I have to…”
He stopped mid-sentence as he saw the Pharaoh.
“Y-You’re majesty! What brings you here to this side of the village?” he asked bowing deeply.

“I was out on my excursion to find a partner when my journey led me here.”

“My, my. You wander this far out? The last house was but a while back.”

‘But it was worth it,’ Yami thought.
“I seem to be perplexed by this young one here…Yugi, was it?”

The boy numbly nodded.

“Yugi?” the old man shrieked in his high voice.
“You want Yugi? Sire, are you sure this a wise choice? He is young and foolish and…”

“He is perfect. And he is coming with me.”
Yami turned and mounted Ani, reaching out a hand for his chosen mate.

The boy stood staring at the offering with wide eyes.

‘M…me? He wants…me?’

“Well come on,” Yami insisted.

The old man walked up to him.
“My lord, please think this through. I do not wish for you to make a mistake…”

“Make a mistake?” Yami growled.

The man cringed.

“What do you take me for? Do I seem one to make many mistakes? Is that how I come off?”

“No, You’re Grace. I-I merely inquire…”

“You have plenty of workers in the fields in the back of your abode. You can do without one…and you will.”
He looked back at Yugi.
“Come, little one. We must go. It is late in the morn and I wish to return.”
Again he extended his hand.

Yugi looked at it. He slowly brought his up to grasp the other.
Yami took the small hand in a firm, yet gentle, hold and hoisted Yugi up on his horse behind himself and took off after his party.