What Came Before Pt. 2

"No! No no no no no!" Scraping those two coins out of the sand searching for as little as a bone to prove he was truly gone. That cloak was not in a midst the sand as well and this simply wasn't good. No wonder that little bastard hadn't fought, because he had a plan of escape. Kneeling down in the sand, looking down to the gold coins resting in his palm. Cody simply couldn't believe the Black Mage had managed to escape death once again, and because of this his family was now in danger. In danger from his very Master, the Pharaoh of Egypt.

He clamoured back onto his horse and made such haste toward Cairo, hoping to any god who would listen that the Mage hadn't returned and made himself known. He had no idea what lie he would make up to make the King believe that he was dead, nor how he would possibly get the man he's wanted dead for nearly a year now. To act as if he were, and not to show his face in Cairo ever again. Pretty hard to do when the last time he saw the Mage, he'd left him to die.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"My Lord, there's only one explanation. His reaction to sunlight must not have been exaggerated. There was nothing left of him when I went to find the body." Cody had glanced up from the floor to see the Pharaoh's eyes, narrowed at him. "I should have kept you a trophy like I had promised, but I will find where his Staff is hidden and set it at your feet before the Nile floods the fields."

"I'm glad you've chosen a more... realistic goal, Codisius. And I can tell your failure to retrieve a trophy pains you. I knew the words of your subordinates were just that of jealousy. Stand, you have proven yourself, as you always do, loyal to my Throne." His eyes were still focused, scrutinizing him as if looking through his lie, but his face softened just slightly as he wandered to his side, resting a hand lightly on his shoulder.

Standing up slowly, bowing his head to the Pharaoh as he did. "I'll always be loyal, M'lord." Once finally dismissed he made his way off the palace grounds, mind just whirring away on how long he would be able to keep up this ruse. How long until the Mage would reappear and show he was still alive. Sighing as he leaned against the the inside of the front door to his home.

Finally given time to relax, time to settle down at home with his wife and children. Forgetting the events of the past few days as he sat down to a meal with them, helping his son with his studies and he made certain his daughter was with her Mother, safe and sound. As the day wound down, and the sun began to set he grew antsy, figuring the Black Mage was more likely to find him in the night. Even with the moon now high in the sky, he could not will himself to sleep. Each time his eyes fell shut, a blaze of azure would flash in front of him. That fear struck into the young man's eyes when he waited for the sun to rise. And each time, it jolted him from sleep, and left him far too alert.

After many failed attempts he decided it was no use and instead turned to his papyrus and ink, transcribing the last few days save for the moment which could incriminate him, and prove his task incomplete. Sighing as he rested his head in his hands, eyes drifting shut after sitting like this for some while.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bright Green eyes looked up to him, expectant and desperate. Mouth hanging open but no words could be made out through the muffling of the dark waters. Head held under it's surface by a hand wrapped into her dark hair. Suffocating, drowning. More bright eyes, lit with terror, flashing under the tides. The sound and scent of burning flesh on the air as the scene unfolded. Unable to even reach out to them, as the water would burn at him as well. His heart breaking while he watched, hands bound behind him, feet tied as well so he was unable to break free.

Falling from his seat onto the floor, the images fading from view as he was suddenly laying on soft sandstone, in his own living area. Within his home, nowhere near the waters of the Nile. All the same his heart was racing, and it grew more difficult to draw breath in, like a great weight was sitting on his chest. Incapable of sitting himself up, he laid on the floor like that for sometime until air seemed to reach his lungs, his heart finally slowed again. He was ashamed that the dream had frightened him to the point of leaving him all but paralyzed. This fear of water was one thing, made all the worse by the Pharaoh's threat on the off-chance of his failure.

Settling onto the lounge for a few minutes wakeful rest, just staring idly at the ceiling, looking to where his children slept. And now, the flash of terror in their green eyes, and the burning anger in those frightening blues are what appeared before his eyes to keep him from achieving that sleep he needed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After some weeks the paranoia of the Mage's return began to fade, and life appeared to return to normal. Patrols became far more calm, people seemed to grow less anxious as the sun was setting. It seemed as though, even if the Mage was alive, he'd decided not to come back to Cairo.

Standing before the Pharaoh after such a long period of calm, asking for time to spend with his family rather than work. It seemed as if he had deserved that much.

"I'm not sure High Guard, your skills seem to have served me so well in the past cycle of the moon. How do you expect me to give you time when I am certain your absence will allow the Mage's and Thieves to return to the streets of my city?" Shaking his head as he leaned back in his chair, a grin slipping onto his face for a few moments.

"But M'Lord, I just need a few days. My son is without a mentor with how much time I spend here, and my wife and daughter cannot rely on my young boy to hold the house together in my stead." Cody's hands had folded neatly together behind his back, frustrated with his King but unable to do anything besides ask, and be denied.

"I trust only you to stand by my side Cody. Zak has become all the more treasonous since his parents were slain, Bakari is too easily convinced of just about anything. They need a leader like yourself to keep them together. I cannot grant you this time, give my apologies to your family." Waving a hand to him, dismissing him from the hall and before Cody could let out his frustrations something caught his eye, in one of the vaulted windows of the Throne room.

Looking up to the window his jaw nearly fell slack. Hanging from the top of the window, smirking, was none other than the Black Mage. Cloak clinging to his body. Actually stammering before he bowed to the Pharaoh. "T-Thank you, for considering it in the least." He quite nearly ran from the Throne Room, trying to make it outside the Palace walls to see where it is this pest was headed to now. "Why does he plague me so, why can't he just die, I would not be surprised if he was to be my enemy until the very end." Grunting in his frustration as he slid to a stop, looking up to one of the outer walls, the Mage was seated comfortably on one of the rooftop ledges.

That smirk still on his lips as he slinked down from the ledge, moving like a liquid shadow until he was on the ground, touching down without so much as a rustle of the air about him. "So, I'm supposedly dead, by your hand. You've never been in better with the Pharaoh, and yet... here I am. Your prize, standing here alive and talking. What's to stop me from wandering in there and shouting out what a dishonest, dishonourable High Guard you've turned out to be?"

"Plea-se..." He paused, knowing that begging for his life still didn't stop him from leaving this young man in the desert. The Mage had all the rights in the world to throw his fraudulence down before the other's. "He threatened my wife and children if I did not deliver you to him, more specifically your head on a golden pike. This witch hunt can end, if you give me your staff, and leave Cairo. No one will know you are alive, and so they will no longer look for you. And my family will be safe from the Pharaoh's wrath..."

"What should I care that your kind are in danger, perhaps fear of the good King's wrong doings will show you why I do not bow to him. You clearly didn't care much for my safety, tying me up like an animal and casting me off into the sea of sands." He could spit his words out with such venom, looking up enough to catch sight of those azure eyes from under his hood.

"You've murdered my soldiers, and stolen from so many vendors in the markets of Cairo, it is my job to keep this city safe and secure. What else could I do- Why am I defending myself to you! This is nonsense. I knew you wouldn't listen to reason!" Growling in his frustration, Cody turned and laid a fist to the sandstone of the palace's wall. "It's that companion, that Kasey. The red-head. She was with you just before I took you out to the desert. She was not in the castle for some time between then and now. Not once did she sit by his side until today. She came out to rescue you, didn't she?" Turning his evergreens on him then, sighing before straightening himself up again and rubbing the bridge of his nose. After a few long, silent moments of just staring at one another Cody spoke again. "I don't wish to bring harm to her, if you care for her. Or even if she was just your playtoy that night. But if the Pharaoh knew one of his companions were out with another man, you no less. She would no doubt come to harm.... Please. Just bring me your staff, and we can end this."

"I could just kill the Pharaoh. Might end this much more quickly than your plan." So blunt with his words, as if he couldn't understand the consequences of this plan of action.

"You can't. And that is not because I like the man. It is because, you cannot. Not to say that men haven't tried before.- That does matter. Bring me the Staff, find me, where I found you last, by that jeweler. And give me the staff tomorrow night, not long after sundown. Please, it will solve both of our problems." He didn't delight in threatening the life of that poor woman, but it seemed to at the very least put a chip in the Mage's shoulder. He hoped that meant he would at least consider this deal.

With eyes focused hard on one another and an uneasy silence falling between them for some time. The man shrouded in black merely leaned back against the wall behind him, melting into the shadows like he had never been there. Cody was left nearly speechless, leaning forward and brushing his hand over the stonewall, to see if he had just been imagining things. Maybe there was more truth to the myths of the Black Mage than he would like to believe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With his reappearance, he turned his world on it's head once again. Returning home to find his family, plucking his son up from his lessons to sit with him. Making all of this evening he had with his wife and children, as the following night, with that meeting with the Mage. He had no idea how that would pan out in the end. If there would be a fight, if it would be a peaceful exchange, he had not a clue.

So instead of worrying, he let that slip his mind. Taking the time to read to his son, tucking him into his bed when the night began to grow late. Visiting with his wife in the nursery, his hand resting on her waist.

"I will sleep down on the lounge another night, perhaps the dreams have left me be, now that what may have been the cause of them is gone." Leaning over and kissing her cheek lightly, a hand lightly caressing his daughter's cheek while she slept soundly. "Sleep well, M'love."

Soon he settled onto the lounge chair for what he hoped would be the last time, for the foreseeable future. Stretching out on the bench with a sigh. At least it seemed as though sleep would come easily to him, with how close this situation was to resolution. Though of course he could be wrong.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grunting as he awoke on the sandstone all the same, laying face down this time. Figuring he'd just rolled off the skinny lounge while in a wonderfully deep sleep, seeing as he felt so refreshed this morning.

He was up with the sun, as per usual to get a bright and early start to his day. And although the day was slow as it always was, proper patrols with not a single hitch, and the Pharaoh remained none the wiser to the Black Mage's presence somewhere in the inner city. That knowledge seemed to leave the High Guard distracted for a good portion of the daylight hours

As he was leaving the Palace Gates when his day had come to an end, he turned to take one last peek and saw something, or well, someone he did not expect. The Pharaoh's red-headed companion. They looked at one another for a few long moments before Cody grew uncomfortable with the situation, and turned on his way into the marketplace.

His eyes were busy scanning the crowds of people that were slowly dwindling as the sun set down past the horizon and the sky slowly melted into inky black night. And yet he couldn't find those blazing azure blue eyes among the people. Finally coming to a rest leaned against the jewelry stand where he had captured the Mage for what felt like the last time.

And he stood there, waiting for quite some time after sunset. With the shops and stands closing for the night and people letting sleep take them under. He sighed softly, knowing at long last that he had been stood up and this may not come to a peaceful agreement like he had hoped. And then, just as he was ready to turn away and make for home a hand fell lightly on his shoulder.

Grabbing at the pale wrist, he tossed him over his shoulder down onto the sand, his arm bent behind him as he lay face down in the street, held in place. "You should not startle me, if you want to keep your hands, Mage."

"Oh, so I did startle you. Glad to see you admit it." Smirking before he spat sand from his mouth, shaking his head. "You can let me up now, I won't scare you again, Mr.Guard."

Growling under his breath Cody let his hand free and stood straight again, hand resting on the sword hilt at his waist. "I'll make certain you don't." The Mage stood up, almost unnaturally gracefully, brushing himself off and turning back around, that little smirk still showing from under the shadow of his hood. "Where's your staff? That was the demand, was it not?"

"See, that's the problem. It was a demand, and I don't do those, why do you think I'm pretty much anti-Pharaoh?" Chuckling a little as he looked up to him from under the hood. He stood almost 5 inches shorter than him, and with Cody at 6'3" it wasn't all that hard. But his smirk seemed to falter into a grimace when he was forced to look up to him, rather than square in his eyes.

"And seeing as I happen to follow orders, and also happen to be the one to give quite a few of them. I don't care if you're anti-Pharaoh, I told you to come here with the Staff, so I never have to see your face in my city again." Cody's words were very deliberate, an attempt to mask his growing frustration which of course, failed.

"Maybe, I don't plan on leaving Cairo. It isn't just your City, Guard. It's mine just as well, just like everyone else who lives here." Jabbing a finger at his chest while he spoke.

Cody grabbed his wrist one again, "You can't stay here. Go back to where ever it was you were hiding, so the city can go back to normal. But give me that cursed Staff before you leave."

"But I don't have it with me. Can't you tell?" Ripping his hand back from Cody's, he scoffed. "I guess you'll just have to wait here for me to come back?"

"No. I won't let you get out of my sight this time."

"Are you sure you want to come with me? You might not enjoy the trip." The Mage's grin turned into an all out smile, that put Cody off a little, as did the fact his Canine's were sharpened to more of a point than most.

"I don't have much choice, save I lose you to the wind for a sixth time."

"You asked for it!" The young man reached out quickly with one hand, setting it square on the High Guard's chest. His other hand raised and he snapped his fingers, such a simple gesture but it had the strangest of consequences.

What seemed like a wall of darkness surrounded the two of them, but the world had grown pitch black. There were sounds that seemed inhuman, guttural growls and what sounded like fights among whatever was making the noises. After what felt like minutes the darkness dissipated and they were no longer by the Jewelry stand, instead just outside of what looked like a small hut in the grasslands, which he did not recognize. A few moments after standing in the field he was overwhelmed with nausea. And it brought him to his knees, vomiting, as if the transportation, whatever happened had made him sick to his stomach.

"I can see why you said I might not like it..." Regaining his composure slightly, wiping his mouth and grunting as he brought himself back up to his feet. "Let's try not to do that again."

"Well I can't let you walk back to Cairo, you'd know how to get to my home. Kind of a deal breaker. So I'll need to do that at the very least one more time. Sorry to ruin your dinner. Twice." But he didn't sound sorry at all, he thought the High Guard's reaction was quite entertaining. That grin still on his lips now. "Can you wait outside now? So I can get you my Staff? No need for you to come in,"

"I don't think I'd want to see inside anyway. If you are not out in one minute, with that staff in hand, I will come in. No matter what." He watched the Mage walk through the door of the hut. Then he was hit with such a blunt observation. This felon he'd been hunting, just plucked him up from the Middle of Cairo, set him in some grassland in in the middle of nowhere with such ease.

They had just had, a decent conversation.