Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Gorgeous Carat (YGO version) ❯ The Dragon of Maghreb Part 12 ( Chapter 19 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

“What the?” the white haired thief said after pulling out an odd brass tube.
“That has to be at least five hundred years old!” the knight exclaimed in awe. I’m astonished that you were able to figure it out. No one has been able to decipher that plaque. Ever. Do you know what that is?”
“There’s probably something in it,” Noir replied looking at the ancient tube. “But I can see a way to open it.”
“Hmm… Give it here,” the knight commanded. “Just as I thought,” he said after examining the container. He took off his ring and placed it into an indentation that had been carved into the metal. There was a faint click as the knight turned the ring and the tube split open.
“Never would have guessed that,” the thief muttered in awe.
“So you needed a ring to open it?” Yugi asked, “Cool!”
“This ring has been in my family for generations,” the old knight replied solemnly, “I am a direct descendent of one of the priests.”
“More scrolls?” groaned Noir, seeing what had been put into the tube. “Better than nothing.”
“C-Comman… der!” a much younger knight came stumbling down the stairs, blood pouring from various wounds covering his body.
The knight rushed to his subordinate only to arrive too late as the man fell face forward onto the floor, dead.
A sudden movement from above caught the white haired thief’s eye and his eyes widened when he realized who was coming down the stairs.
“There you are Bakura,” came the one voice he’d thought he’d never have to hear again. “You’ve been a very naughty boy, making me look for you all this time. But you are a good guide, I’ll give you that.”
“Ezh… dar?! You’re alive?!” Noir shouted in disbelief and horror.
“Did you really think I’d die from such a pathetic shot as that boy?” the blue eyed man said, smirking at Yugi. The poor boy started shivering, being forced to remember all the evil man had put him through.
“Leave this heathen to me,” the knight said, pushing the two behind him. “Take my ring and go! You have to find the treasure!”
He then shoved them against one of the walls and to Noir and Yugi’s surprise, it swung open, causing them to stumble backwards. “There was a secret passage here?!” the thief cried as he struggled to regain his balance. Behind the now closed wall they could hear the faint sounds of clashing metal and gunfire.
It was a few minutes later when Noir and Yugi came to another set of stairs leading up. The shorter boy was about to dash up the steps when a loud bang sounded from above and something hit the steps. Yugi cried out and jumped away from the stone stairs.
“Damn, he found us!” Noir spat, seeing the one eyed brunet at the top of the stairs.
“Hmm… what to do next,” mused Ezhdar, smirking like the cat who was about to get the canary. “Maybe dear Yugi’s head… or maybe yours? Noir growled, making sure he stood between the maniac and his ‘amethyst’. “Or maybe I’ll spare your lives if you come peacefully?” Noir continued to glare at his former friend, refusing to say anything or even move. “I may even let you live a bit longer if you decipher this for me,” Ezhdar said again, holding up the scroll neither of them had realized they had dropped.
“Noir?!” Yugi hissed, seeing the thief’s hands twitch in anger.
“Don’t be stupid Ezhdar!” the taller albino yelled, “Do you know how long the last one took?!”
The Mafioso just smirked. He knew he had the upper hand. After all, he was the one who had the scroll now, not to mention a gun trained on the petit boy hiding behind his ‘friend’. Even if Noir did try anything, his pet would be dead within seconds.
Said ‘friend’ sighed, realizing that there was no way out of this. Ezhdar lowered his gun, but didn’t put it away, choosing instead to keep it aimed at them in case Noir tried anything believing the brunet had his guard down.

Th ey were now back at the plaque, Noir trying his best to decipher the ancient writing engraved onto it.
“It’s mostly like that other scroll, but these letters are weird,” the albino muttered, “They’re almost like a pattern of some kind, so what’s the rule for it?” His chocolate brown eyes furrowed in the dim light, running over the bottom part of the plaque. ‘This part doesn’t match up’
“Noir, what about this?” Yugi asked, taking out the knight’s ring. “Before he told us to go, he told me that it had something to do with a seal on the treasure. I’m not sure, but I think this may be the crest of the Anjou family.”
The taller man took the ring and surveyed the crest carved into it. “Anjou family, huh? Must have been hard for someone descended from Louis XIV to be forced to guard a place like this.” ‘I wonder…’ he pondered seeing that there was a similar depression set into the plaque.
“Noir?” Yugi asked watching intently as the thief attempted to insert the ring.
“No good, it’s too small.” He was about to hand it back to the boy when he noticed something odd about the ring. ‘It slides?!’ Fiddling with the ring he saw that the upper part slid partially aside, making it big enough to fit into the much larger hole. He then turned the ring which was subsequently followed by a click and cracking sound. Upon retrieving the ring, which had fallen out, Noir’s eyes widened upon seeing a name carved into the under part ‘Charles d’Anjou?!’
“Hey it broke!” Yugi said, seeing that the plaque was now split in two and some kind of relief had been revealed.
“Give me the scroll,” Noir ordered. Yugi nodded and handed him the ancient piece of paper. “It looks like this matches up with the scroll.” Placing the paper carefully onto the relief, he held it in place as he bent down and grabbed a piece of burnt wood that had been left by someone’s former torch. “I just hope I’m right about this,” he muttered as he began rubbing the wood onto the paper as gingerly and quickly as possible.
After a couple minutes a picture of some sort had appeared upon the rubbed portion. “So I was right!” Noir crowed triumphantly, “They do match up! Cy.. clo..ps?” he said, reading the letters that had appeared next to the original ones written on the scroll. “Weird name for a church.” Yugi had to agree as he peered at the rubbing of a medieval church or was it a sanctuary of some sort?
“Cyclops you say?” Ezhdar said, his only visible eye glittering greedily. “If I can remember correctly that’s a name of an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. According to Greek myth the Cyclops lived on Sicily. The lava islands nearby are said to be the rocks he threw at Ulysses as he fled the island – thus the Cyclops islands.”
“I should have known,” grumbled Noir, once again none too pleased at being outclassed intellectually.
“Noir?” Yugi chirped, not understanding.
“There was name carved in the ring – Charles d’Anjou. During the crusades, he was the French king who was in charge of Naples and Sicily.”
“And?” the boy pressed, wanting to know what that had to do with the scroll.
“You’re a noble and you don’t know?!” the white haired thief chided, “Charles d’Anjou was Louis IX’s younger brother.”
“Oh!” he said, finally understanding, “That’s right after Louis’s death, Charles got as far as Acre which was close to Jerusalem. It was said that that was when he took the treasure of the Knights Templar and hid it somewhere on his lands. Maybe… no I’m certain that there’s still a castle that belongs to the Anjou family on Cyclops.”
“Shall we go then?” Ezhdar said, once again reminding them of his presence. Yugi shivered at that evil voice, making the tallest of the group smirk even more sadistically. “So you’ve regained your senses have you? Makes me glad I didn’t make you take the opium until it drove you mad.”
“Y-You bastard!” Noir growled, reaching for his whip.
“D-Don’t!” Yugi yelled stepping in front of the albino.
That proved to be another blunder on his part since it gave Ezhdar the opportunity to latch onto the boy and yank him away. “Let him go!” the thief demanded.
“Still so sensitive I see,” purred the brunet as a hand snaked its way around the boy’s waist and up into his shirt. Yugi bit his lip causing drops of blood to form in a desperate attempt to prevent the moan from escaping his throat. “Like that do we?”
“N-No,” Yugi hissed, panting slightly as the evil hand continued its lazy travels across the boy’s skin. “W-Why…”
“Because Yugi dear, I almost died.” The spiky haired boy squeaked as he felt the man’s free hand grip his arm violently.
“That’s enough Ezhdar!” Noir yelled, reluctantly releasing his own grip on his whip. “Don’t make me hate you anymore than I already do. You want the map and ring? Here! Just let Yugi go!”

“I was sure that weird group was headed this way,” Malik said from atop the chestnut mare he had ‘borrowed’. Lavender eyes glanced worriedly over the silent ruins. “But there’s no one in sight.”
“It’d be pretty hard to miss anyone,” his spiky haired companion said, bringing the black mare alongside the other, “This place is pretty small and hard to miss.” The older man’s crimson eyes widened in shock upon spotting something lying on the rocky sand. “Over there!”
The blond Egyptian leapt off the horse and ran over to the prone figure. He couldn’t help but let out a tiny sigh of relief when he saw it wasn’t who he feared. “He’s… dead,” he said glumly, closing the dead knight’s eyes.
“Those look like bullet wounds,” Atem said coming over to inspect the corpse. ‘Just what happened here?’ he wondered, getting an uneasy feeling. The slightly taller blond was about to ask exactly that when two figures suddenly burst from underground, startling both men.
“Come on Yugi!” the white haired man yelled, “This is no time for fooling around!”
The shorter, spiky haired boy ran as fast as he could only to trip on a loose stone and fall face down into the sand. Just as he struggled to get himself up, another figure leapt from the underground passage and leapt onto him, roughly pulling the boy against him.
“Ezhdar!” both Atem and Malik shouted, not expecting the crime boss to still be alive.
“Noir!” Yugi called, squirming in the brunet’s grasp like a worm on a hook.
“Yugi you little idiot!” spat Noir, his eyes not matching the tone of his angry words.
“I know your weakness, Bakura,” smirked Ezhdar, pulling the boy back into the passage. “You won’t leave this little beauty behind or have you set your sights on something other than jewels?”
Noir growled, the sound unnerving Malik slightly for he never saw his master so angry. With the speed of a pouncing panther, he barreled into the brunet and knocked him away from the boy. The thief grabbed Yugi and practically threw him out of the passage. There was a sudden crack of a gunshot and the stone roof of the passage began to cave in.
“Yugi!” cried Malik, catching hold of the distraught boy.
“Bakura!” the boy’s older look alike shouted racing toward the passage.
“I’ll be back for you,” the white haired thief swore, his chocolate brown eyes never leaving Yugi. The boy continued to struggle against the Egyptian’s hold. “Go Yugi!” he commanded. Yugi bit his lip, amethyst eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Let’s go to hell together, Ezhdar,” the thief said, unable to look at Yugi any more, less he’d try to do something stupid.
“Bakura!” Atem called again as the passage was completely blocked off with rubble.
“Noir!” the spiky haired boy screamed, finally breaking from Malik’s grip and dashing over to the blocked passage.
“Damn it Bakura!” spat the private detective holding the boy back in case there was another cave in. “Bakura you idiot! There’s no way any of us can move all this.”
“L-Let me go!” cried Yugi, kicking at his taller look alike and causing him to reflexively let go. “Noir!” Yugi ran over to the fallen rubble and began to desperately dig at it.
“Don’t Yugi!” Malik shouted, pulling him away, “It’s no use. There’s too much. Besides, moving any of this could cause another cave in.”
Yugi spun around to hit the blond, but instead found himself suddenly drained of all fight. “M-Malik!” he cried and flung himself against the taller Egyptian. No one said anything as the boy sobbed his heart out.

“Hey it’s alright,” the white haired boy said, pouting at the morose mood his little trip had taken on. “That man’s not the type to stay dead.” Malik narrowed his lavender eyes and shot him a glare that could melt the flesh off of bones.
“Any luck?” Atem asked as a very tired and very haggard looking Yugi entered the hotel room.
Yugi shook his head, fighting back the tears that still threatened to fall. “I…” he started, swallowing against the lump in his throat. Malik led the trembling boy to a chair and forced him to sit. Pulling his own chair closer, the Egyptian then sat down and placed a tan hand on the smaller boy’s arm.
“I looked everywhere… even in that other passage we found, but… but…” Malik looked at the boy sympathetically.
“It’s okay Yugi. You did your best. I’m taking him back to his room.” The blond stood and made to help the boy up only to have Yugi swat the hand away.
“He said he be back for me,” the spiky haired boy said quietly, “I believe him. I know he’s alive! He’s got to be heading to that island… where the Knights Templar hid their treasure. Ezhdar’s probably taking him there.”
“What island?” Noir’s cousin asked, his mood brightened at the mention of the fabled treasure.
Malik and Atem shot the brat equal death glares. “Cyclops… near Italy,” the boy whispered.
“If he is with that monster, I can bet any amount of money that he’ll be planning something,” Atem said placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “There’s no way he’ll work with him willingly. But I’ve never heard of any island called Cyclops.”
“Hmm…” mused Ryou, “I do believe I remember seeing an island with that name on a chart of the Tyrrhenian Sea. If we use my ship, we could reach it in half a day from Tunisia.”
“Good thinking,” said Atem. “Why don’t we leave tomorrow? We’re all tired.”
“Come on Yugi,” Malik said, nodding at the detective, “Let’s get you to bed.”
The spiky haired boy let himself be led from the chair and out Ryou’s room. Just as Malik was about to open the door to Yugi’s room, the shorter boy paused suddenly. “What is it, Yugi?” the blond asked, concerned.
Yugi had stuffed his hands into his pockets and had felt something cold and hard in one of them. Taking his hand out, the boy gasped upon seeing the knight’s ring in his petit hand. ‘Noir… did you…?’ he thought, quickly shoving the ring back before anyone else could see it.

The next day found the rest of Noir’s group aboard Ryou’s ship and several miles out to sea. “That’s Sicily over there,” the white haired boy said pointing to a hazy land mass that was barely visible from the ship. “And Italy’s over there,” he said again pointing across from the Italian island.
“That means we’re already in the Tyrrhenian Sea,” Atem said in amazement, “That sure was fast.”
“Did you think my family’s company built run of the mill ships?” Ryou said, haughtily, “We’ve hired only the best shipwrights around. Ours are the best in the latest high-speed ships.”
“Whatever,” mumbled Malik, not at all impressed by the brat’s boasting.
“So where is it?” the albino asked, pouting. “Shouldn’t we be able to see it by now?”
“I-Is that it?” Yugi asked, pointing to a rock formation off the other side of the deck.
“Where?! Let me see!” Ryou shouted, shoving the poor boy aside as he ran over to the opposite side. Once, confirming that it was indeed an island, the white haired boy then began rushing about shouting orders for the captain to head straight for it.
‘So that’s where Noir’ll be,’ Yugi said to himself, peering at the forbidding looking Island that was getting closer by the second.
“It’s like a fortress,” Malik said peering over the deck railing at the lone ancient structure of Cyclops Island. “There’s nothing but that castle.”
“It’s been said that it was used as a military base during the Crusades and eventually people forgot about it,” Ryou said, joining the blond, “According to rumors, it was even a pirate base at one time, but I’m certain it’s totally abandoned now.”


Sakura: Whoo!! Thought this would NEVER get done.

Jade: Writer’s block again?

Bakura: More like a lazy writer.

Sakura: Bakura! I did try to work on this! It’s not my fault life kept interfering!

Asch: You mean your stupid games kept interfering.

Bakura: And lazy!

Sakura: Shut it or I’m handing you both over to Dist for experimentation.

Asch: Just try it woman!

Bakura: You wouldn’t dare!

Jade: Now, now let’s all be adults here. She did get this chapter done after all.

Luke: And they said I was immature. -.-‘’’