Unfinished Gems

Sands of Time - 8

Marik stared down the snake he had found. He had followed the sound of someone cursing about 'two-leggers' and had stumbled across it.

Odion had raced towards his little brother, only to find them in a staring contest.

Suddenly the snake 'blinked' and Marik crowed.

"I win again!"

The snake hissed at him, irate.

"I am not a cheater!"

"Are you talking to the snake?"

"Yeah!" said Marik grinning. "Cool, right?"

Odion would have agreed...if it wasn't for the fact that it was well known among the clan that only the line of the Nameless Pharoah had that ability through his wife.

And last he checked, the head of the tomb keeping clan wasn't from that line, and neither was his wife. And he knew for a fact that Isis wasn't of that bloodline...she was a direct descendant of the priestess who served the pharaoh.

When Odion pointed this out to his adopted mother, she grew deathly pale.

"You must not mention this to anyone. He will kill you if he finds out you've realized the truth."

Odion loved his adopted mother. She had saved him from certain death.

So when he found out that his 'father' wanted to tattoo Marik with the pharaoh's memories, even though he was of the man's bloodline, he knew he had to act. Ever since he had been saved, it had been ingrained in him to protect the bloodline from any harm. And while Marik wasn't the sole heir of that bloodline, he was Odion's little brother.

Which was why he did something desperate.

He contacted the Medjai who were visiting the clan for whatever reason and asked them rather openly to bring the Undying Queen here. Only she could protect Marik from this madness.

For obvious reasons, the queen did not visit often...if at all. After all, the tomb keepers kept her husband's memory alive through the ages and were protecting the few artifacts that had his image left.

They had to be hurriedly removed and saved for security reasons.

Odion felt nothing but guilt when he heard Marik screaming in agony as the keepers ritualistically tattooed his back...without any painkillers at all.

Near the end of the ritual, Marik was already passed out from pain. Odion hoped it would be over soon...so you could imagine his surprise when he felt the pure feminine fury coming from nearby.

An incredibly beautiful woman stalked through the halls and Odion knew in an instant this was a queen.

"What in the name of the gods is going on here?" she demanded.

The adults took one look at her, and stiffened.

"My queen, to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" said Odion's stepfather.

"Someone alerted me that the tomb keepers were using my husband's bloodline for a ritual to imprint his memories without the boy's consent. And that there was someone willing to take on the burden and was rejected because he was adopted," she growled.

His stepfather looked at Odion with betrayal. Odion could care less as he used the distraction to check on his brother.

Marik was barely breathing.

The queen glared at the elders and checked on the boy herself. Her fury went up when she realized the child was given no painkillers.

Odion stayed with Marik, as did Isis.