If You Feel Better

Chapter 37

The guard stood atop his post, shielding his eyes from the sun, gazing out into the sand dunes all the way to the horizon. Although he stood in that spot day after day, he refused to slack off. He was a trusted lookout for the pharaoh and the whole palace and he took his job very seriously. With the princess missing, it was now more important than ever that every soldier, guard, and citizen kept their eye out for anything amiss.

He scanned the premises thoroughly, ensuring nothing escaped his eagle-like gaze. He watched a cliff face out in the distance, one that was more familiar than the back of his hand. His eyes narrowed at something unusual, though he was too far away to tell exactly what. It was incredibly tiny compared to the adjacent cliff, just a speck amongst a towering wall of rock. He could tell that whatever it was was moving, just a burgundy dot making its way along the base of the cliff.

He turned to his partner that stood behind him, searching in the other direction. "Rashad," he said, getting his attention. "What is that?" He pointed to the spot in question in front of him.

Rashad squinted his eyes in the direction that his partner was pointing, seeing the same speck that he was seeing. "It must be a person," he concluded upon observation. "See how fast they're going? Whoever it is is on horseback."

"Didn't the general say that Bakura often wears a red cloak? Could that be him?"

"If it is, he could lead us to the princess. Let's get a closer look."

Rashad moved to climb down from their outlook, before the other guard swiftly held out his arm to stop him. "Wait! Look!"

Further in the distance, he could just make out that the dunes looked fuzzy. The usual background was now indistinct and was becoming darker quickly. It looked like a yellowish-tan cloud that started at ground level and extended far into the sky, barreling forward in their direction.

"It's a sandstorm! We can't get closer now! We have to retreat and warn the others!"

Rashad nodded in agreement and they bounded down their post jumped on their horses, swiftly galloping away to safety.

~

Aya's wrists felt like they were going to fall off at any moment. The days upon days of tight ropes digging into her skin had finally broken through, drawing blood, creating an incessant pain that was torturous day in and day out.

Bakura kindly moved her wrists from being tied behind her back to being tied in front of her, but that wasn't an act of mercy. It was to make riding a horse easier. She would constantly be flopping forward if she tried riding with her arms tied behind her. No matter what she said or did, Bakura refused to take them off of her. She had proven to be an untrustworthy prisoner where no chances could be taken.

Aya blanky stared back and forth between the sheer cliff that scaled up to the heavens on their right and the endless sandy dunes that blew into rolling hills on their left. She was so bored out of her mind, but she preferred this than staying one more night in Kul Elna.

The moaning and groaning of the spirits had become so normalized that she had begun hearing them in her dreams. She had become such an expert in fading them out that she nearly didn't see them or hear them anymore when she was awake, though they were perfectly visible and deafening.

She and Bakura had been on the horse for hours, having already taken two breaks that day. She was beginning to feel like she was nodding off, but the sensation of nearly sliding off the horse snapped her awake again. They rode parallel against the bottom of the cliff, following it to wherever it may lead. Bakura of course knew where that was, but Aya did not.

"You know," Aya eventually spoke up. "Eventually, I'm going to have no wrists at all. Your ropes are sawing through them little by little until my hands fall off on their own. It's agonizingly slow. I know you're one for maim and torture, but if you want to make your future wife happy, I would suggest not doing that."