A Stranger in the Pharaoh's Court - 4

Ako nuzzles her face into your chest, ignoring the disdainful stares of the rest of the Pharaoh’s assembled party. Caiti Al-Mesi, for her part, seems to have expected this kind of reaction from the young girl. She’s snickering at the both of you. You push the white-haired mouse off and clamber back to your feet. “Nice to see you too…”

“Onii-sama, why are you here?” she asks. Bahiti clears her throat, demanding the attention of everyone in the room. Your conversation ends as you push the young mouse back towards the Apophis and dust yourself off. You can ask each other some questions later, right now you need to avoid being beheaded by an angry queen.

“I see you are still keeping interesting company, Caiti Al-Mesi.”

The Apophis waves her hand, “Ah. And I see that you’re still an odious bore, Bahiti Am-Heh. I apologize, I am sure that was too much excitement for your old bones.” You knew that Apophi were venomous, but that was a vicious insult. The Pharaoh allows the scathing words to roll over her like a cool breeze. She simply smiles pleasantly and invites the party to take their seats at the table.

You are directed to take a seat next to the Pharaoh by Al-Hathor. Ako dashes from her side of the room to sit opposite you. You’re not sure if that’s where she’s meant to be, but nobody airs any complaints about it. She happily kicks her legs under the table, swaying her head from side to side. She’s on cloud nine already. This is what she’s like when she’s around her precious Onii-sama.

“Firstly, let us enjoy the finest food and drink from this great city!” Bahiti claps her hands and a stream of servants trickle into the room with silver platters in their hands. There’s a wide variety of food on offer. Meat and fruits and wine from the local area. They’re presented like fine pieces of art, with an attention to detail that would make a painter envious.

Bahiti turns to you, “I did not know you had family, wanderer.”

“I never had the chance to mention it, not that I thought she’d turn up here in the first place.” Ako waves to you, you wave back and sigh. “We’re family in everything but blood. We trained together, and she was always attached to me by the hip.”

She huffs, “Hmph. Her attempts to seduce you will end in naught but failure.”

“That’s not really… never mind.”

You know how competitive monster girls can be over men. Although, Ako isn’t really interested in you as a lover. That might sound ridiculous to most monster girls, who take every chance to jump the bones of the nearest man no matter their relation. Ako and you have a genuine sibling bond. Ako was just a little girl when the Ryu took her into your temple. She looks up to you like a real brother, and she strides to be as experienced as you are with your fighting skills.

Ako has a natural advantage though. Monster girls, most of them, are stronger than human men and women. Ako is a Hinezumi. Not only do her arms burn with an intense flame that makes attacking her a challenge, but she’s also supernaturally fast. You can beat almost anyone on their best day but beating Ako takes all of your skill and patience.

How things change. Ako used to challenge you to a battle every other day. You used to win those fights. But when Ako finally started to grow into a young woman, those victories became rarer and rarer. You hadn’t won a fight against her in a year when you left the shrine to find your own way. You never expected to run into her as far afield as this.

The Pharaoh turned to the young mouse, “I cannot recall seeing a traveller like you. I assume through your relationship with my guest that you are also from a foreign land?”

“Yes!” she squeaked, “Onii-sama and I travelled from Zipangu. It’s a wonderful island to the East of here.”

“And tell me, do you have intentions of capturing him for yourself?”

Ako tilts her head, “Capturing?”

Bahiti slams her fist down onto the table, “Acquiring his affection and undying love!”

“But Onii-sama already loves me.”

Ako is also as dense as a brick wall. She’s at that age where other girls start worrying about getting married, although for the average monster that age is somewhere around seven or eight. Ako just doesn’t seem all that interested in courting anyone. And that extends to you too. It’s a bit of a cliché to imply that because you’ve known each other for a long time that she’s planning to jump
your bones – as proven by the increasingly frustrated Pharaoh.

“Have you ever tried to wrestle him to the ground, or share his bed?” she continues.

“Yep! When we’re training our throws for Mama, or when we decide to have a big sleepover with all of the other students!”

“Um, your Holiness. Ako and I don’t have that kind of relationship.”

“But you are brother and sister, are you not?”

“Yes. But… we’ve never slept together, or anything like that. Ako is as pure as the driven snow.”

Bahiti rubs her chin, “What is snow?”

“It’s frozen water.” You glance over and notice that Ako is being a messy eater, “Ako, mind your manners!”

She bows her head and wipes off her mouth with a tissue, “Sorry!”

You eat a slice of the provided meat and consider the flavour, “This takes me back. It’s almost like eating at the temple, if we had
money for good food anyway.”

“It was good! It was just a little repetitive.”

The argument dies down so you can eat in peace. You have your fill of the buffet before cleaning yourself up and leaning back in your chair. Some of the other attendees have gotten up from their seats and are mingling with each other. Ako rounds the table and leaps onto your lap the first chance she gets. You sigh and push the chair out to give her enough room. She’s still tiny, but appearances can
be deceiving – she can kick your ass up and down the river if she wants to.

“How did you end up out here Ako?” you ask.

“Oh! Well, when you left the shrine everyone was really sad! But then eventually Mama let me leave too. I went to a lot of different places, but eventually Miss Caiti hired me because of my fighting skills. She wants to build a court of all the most amazing people in the world!”

“I hope she isn’t making you do anything unbecoming of the school, Ako.”

“Nope! I told her right away that I wouldn’t do anything mean just because she told me to.”

“So that’s her game,” Bahiti mutters. “I cannot fault her for her efforts. An interesting court would liven things up.” She looks to you and smirks, “For example, you. Very few men have had the nerve to treat me as you have, wanderer.”

“Nerve? I thought I was being rather polite.”

“That is what I mean, you do not take my words lying down. The only other woman in this entire city who would do the same is Shahram;
that is why I trust her to be my eye.”

“I guess my manners are just lacking, your holiness.”

“Do not mistake my pride for insecurity wanderer. While I take great pains to ensure the splendour of my city, I do not need to be coddled like a spoilt child. I have lived ten lifetimes for better and for worse. I have seen the tides rides and fall and the cities along their banks swallowed by time.”

“And in all that, I’m the one who interests you?”

“Yes. The waning of time has not doused my curiosity. Even with my many years there are things that still remain foreign, even to me. A pair of trained sibling warriors from the East, that is new to me.”

Ako blushed and rubbed the back of her head, “Mama just wanted to make sure that we could defend ourselves.”

That isn’t the way that you’d describe her. She was borderline paranoid. You were never allowed to leave the temple alone. She was always afraid of you being snatched away by an enterprising monster and turned into a househusband. There were a few other human boys and girls who lived with you, and she treated them much the same. If there’s one thing that’s true about Mama, she valued even the humans who lived in her domain. Why she knew martial arts in the first place is a question you hope to know the answer to one day.

The time for pleasantries was over. You’d heard legends of the rivalry between the great undead Pharaohs and the Apophi of old. They reached from sea to sea on the tongues of sailors and adventurers alike. The large snake-woman slithered through the crowd and approached Bahiti with scorn in her yellow eyes.

“I’m glad to see that this slum of yours is still standing since last I visited. What a pitiful sight it would be to see it burned to the ground.”

“Our firefighters are exceptionally talented and brave,” she fires back, “They have more than enough time to train, since they are not so predisposed with their husbands to work properly.”

“That’s because you don’t know how to have fun!” she hisses, “What kind of leader deprives her people of spirit energy?”

“A leader who desires for her city to be more than a simple den of hedonism.”

Up close, the true scale of the Apophis becomes clear. She’s huge, and that’s before you start measuring the length of her thick, meaty tail. You find yourself wondering how a fight between the two of them would go, who would emerge the victor? Her eyes focus on you, attempting to find another angle from which to verbally assault her gracious host.

“And who is this man? He is unclaimed.”

“No. He is claimed. By me.”

Caiti cackles like the most boisterous of swamp witches, “You’re still a dusty old virgin?”

“Are you not the same?”

“N-No! I have defiled more men than you have ever laid eyes on! From street to street, my city is a parade of cock presented for me and
me alone!”

…

You scratch your nose, “A parade of cock?”

Bahiti smirks, “Are you certain that a chicken merchant has not lost his stock?”

“You have such a way with words,” Ako smiles with no sense of irony.

“Don’t repeat that,” you sigh.

“Enough. I tire of these childish games. We shall see who is the superior ruler by the quality of the company that they keep! Present me with your best warrior, and Ako shall defeat them handily in a match of skill and strength.”

Bahiti turns to you. “Don’t look at me like that, if you want someone who can beat Ako – you’ll need to find a monster.”

“Nonsense! You have the strength of seven men, and some to spare. Come, show me your talents first-hand.” She claps her hands and the guards quickly move into the middle of the room, pulling the tables apart so that they line the two sides of the room. The crowd moves with them, forming a corridor of people on each side of the throne room. A buzz of excitement fills the air as the prospect of a royal
contest begins to spread amongst them.

You peel off your jacket and hand it off to one of the attendants, “Hold this for me.”

“Yes sir.”

“Fine. I’ll give you a show. But Ako is a tough nut to crack, take it from me.”

Bahiti seems content with her choice despite your verbal warning. Ako hops from her chair and skips to the opposite side. “Yay! Sparring with Onii-sama!” She stretches out her arms and legs. You do your own warmup routine and try to focus your mind. You’ll need to do everything you can to beat her. It’s been a long time, who knows what she’s learned since then.

When you’re happy with the feeling in your arms and legs, you step into the imaginary circle. Ako and you share a bow and adopt your first stance. “On your word, Pharaoh,” you bark. A silence settles over the room as everyone awaits her command.

“Begin!” her voice bellows.