Chapter Text
“Why don’t you just drop me in the water so I can be eaten by one of Sobek’s priests?” Seth said as he again tried to somehow wriggle out of the bracelet Horus had bound him to for their journey. “It’d be less bad than this shit!” But the metal bits holding his wrists and chest were strong, and he made no progress, and kicking Horus’ forearm made no difference.
After a day of Horus almost never letting Seth out of his sight – which had only made Seth angrier and more paranoid, even if it meant he at least got to leave Horus’ rooms again – Horus seemingly suddenly decided they were doing this out of the blue, not even bothering to give Seth the option of deciding which piece of jewelry to be trapped on this time, and simply sticking him inside the bracelet's bonds before heading off for whatever outing Horus had come up with.
Seth was still enraged that Horus had dared it all, though thankfully Isis hadn’t been involved in the bracelet part, so far as he knew, anyway. That helped keep the panic of being trapped again down just a little.
It didn’t help that even though Horus was flying with his giant brown falcon wings mostly straight and calmly along the edge of the Nile towards some mysterious destination, Seth still bobbed up and down slightly on his wrist with the wind, which made him a little sick, which made it harder to focus on freedom. Seth didn’t know what would happen if he somehow managed to escape the bracelet while they were so high and he was so small and weak, but he’d rather freedom than the indignity of being trapped like this.
Horus had taken his headdress away as well, which Seth was half-enraged by, and half understood as somewhat practical. Without his powers, it was just a headdress, and would have flown off, unless Horus somehow tied his head to the bracelet, which Seth supposed he was grateful Horus hadn’t done. Seth detested being grateful to him in any capacity, when things were like this.
Still, he had to keep his eyes shut against the wind most of the time, and his long red hair often flew in his face.
Horus, of course, looked calm and unbothered as he flew along, and simply smiled, glancing down to his left hip, where Seth was trapped in the bracelet. “Don’t worry, Uncle. We’re almost there.”
Seth opened his eyes narrowly, to protect them against the wind, and growled, “I despise you.”
Horus simply smiled at him and replied, “Yes, Uncle,” before turning his gaze ahead once more.
Seth would have screamed in frustration, but imagined he’d choke on the wind somehow.
Horus finally descended at what appeared to be an arbitrary strip of the Nile absent of humans or large land animals.
Seth wondered what would happen if he tried to call his sha. He hadn’t been able to sense them since he’d been depowered, but he had also never been brought out this far from the palace since then, either. Horus had either been too busy or too careful.
But right then he was a bit too busy trying not to bang his head on the metal bracelet too much as Horus landed and walked around a bit in the grass, looking for… whatever it was he was looking for. Horus’ movements made his wrist bounce back and forth, knocking Seth whichever way repeatedly.
Seth started thinking about ways he was going to murder his nephew to pass the time.
“You’ll probably lose patience with that one after a while,” Horus commented at one point as they reached a bit of open ground.
Seth hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud. But he didn’t care. “It’s the time I’d take that would make it worth it,” Seth muttered back.
Horus lowered the bundle he’d carried with them in his other hand onto the grass, allowing it to unroll.
Seth was able to watch as what had been some blob-like bundle turned into a spread of food: fruits, vegetables, a platter of meat, a plate of aish baladi, a jug of wine…
“What’s this for?” Seth demanded. “Going to canoodle with Hathor?”
Horus laughed and sat in the dirt, facing part of the grass. He raised his right hand and wind whistled through the air, snipped at the grass a bit.
Then Horus raised his wrist so that Seth was “standing” up and said, “No. Look, Uncle.”
Seth frowned, not comprehending, but supposed it couldn’t hurt to see what stupidity Horus was up to. As he gazed ahead, he realized the wind trimming the grass had given them a better view of the water, which looked bright blue and calm this time of day. In the distance, a small boat piloted its way ahead on its course. Around them he could see trees, more healthy grasses, and even small birds wheeling in the sky…
He felt a strange longing in his chest, seeing all this. All he’d had since his demotion had been rooms in the palace, cages, being tied to a string and toted around a courtyard, and sometimes accompanying Horus somewhere in the city, usually a temple (but thankfully never flying). Before his demotion, sometimes he’d just leave the palace and the city just to get away from all the noise of people. Go racing in the sands, either with his chariot or under his own power, or walking along the Nile, sometimes chatting with Sobek or just to be alone, daring anyone to come after the God Supreme. Even before he was the God Supreme, he felt better beyond where people were a lot of the time. His temples were okay, and he liked being amidst soldiers sometimes, but here…
He frowned. Here what?
“Uncle?”
Seth blinked. He had the sense Horus had spoken to him a number of times before Seth noticed it.
Well, it’s not like he’s not used to me ignoring him. Still, he added, “What?”
“Are you all right? You’re quiet.”
“Even useless tiny demigods can just think at times, oaf.”
Horus didn’t reply to that, but turned his wrist around so Seth was facing him. Horus’ expression was unreadable, as usual. “Uncle, I brought you out here to enjoy the day. Let me know if you are upset by something.”
“Let me go.”
“If I let you down, you’ll run away and get eaten by something. Or fall in a hole and break your leg again. You know how fragile you are now.”
Seth glared at him and wiggled again. “You think… what? We can have some romantic outing eating food out here by the water while I’m bound up like this???” Why did Horus and his damn father think non-consensual bondage was a way into his shendyt??? Had he secretly had a sign on his back saying as much??
“Well, I thought you’d like the air.”
After that awful flight and how it seemed a veiled comment on Seth’s own fall from Horus’ desk, like it was something Seth had wanted, Seth almost hissed at him.
Horus laughed and started eating. He offered some of the food to Seth, and was ignored. Seth refused to be handfed crumbs, as he literally couldn’t feed himself. Not only was it undignified for Horus to do it and continue to treat him like a pet, it was too similar to…
He forced himself not to think about it.
At one point, Horus got up and walked to the water, and Seth half hoped something would rise up and eat them both. Perhaps it would be a change of pace. But they simply stood near the water’s edge, gazing out. As Seth peered down, he could see the medjed as they swam along, wiggling slightly, their long snouts cutting through the water.
Eventually, Horus returned to the food and lay down, setting his wrist on his chest so that Seth was facing up and not crushed.
Seth of course still bumped his head a bit on the damn bracelet, and grumbled curses at Horus. But after a time, when Horus didn’t move more, Seth relaxed a bit. There was nothing he could do but hope something ate them while Horus took a nap. Perhaps a mortal would come across them and Seth could spook them into freeing him or something.
“Are you enjoying anything about this, Uncle?” Horus asked abruptly.
Seth snorted. “No. Idiot.”
Horus sighed. “Well, enjoy the air a bit more. We’ll head back soon enough.”
Seth rolled his eyes. He could barely enjoy anything tied like this!
But still, as he continued to stare at the open sky and Horus didn’t pull anything, he realized that familiar feeling of being out in the open returned. The longing in his gut for more of this. As much as he could take.
But it was all beyond his reach, with the bracelet. His tiny size, that would make him prey for literally anything he came across, or even just his own weakness if he fell into a hole or became trapped in weeds… Or was too slow to escape the Nile flooding…
He laughed, realizing, despite the meager comfort he’d thought he was getting out of this, it was almost worse than being stuck in the palace. It was like giving him a sniff of something good, and not quite snatching it away, but holding it just beyond reach.
And wasn’t that just like…?
Seth stiffened, and then whispered, “I hate you,” glaring at the open sky and how it mocked him. “You couldn’t have picked a better punishment. I’d take the damn wardrobe again over this.” For a while he’d forgotten, with the overwhelming nature of the flight, being free of the palace and Horus’ rooms in particular… but of course, Horus would always be Osiris’ son. There was never any way to forget that. Open air and nature be damned. Even if he didn’t see Osiris in the flora and fauna around them, he had a close embodiment beneath his ankles.
After a moment, Horus replied, “I’m sorry, Uncle. I’ll do better next time.”
Seth blinked. “What the hell are you apologizing to me for??? I’m your slave!”
Horus didn’t reply to that, and simply lay there.
After a time, Seth shut his eyes, assuming Horus was just being weird. He might as well nap. Avoid any more foolish questions from Horus. If this was all they were going to do then… then that wasn’t the worst, he supposed. He couldn’t escape and whatever Horus was going to do, he could just do.
If his fall had taught him anything, it was how powerless he was to do anything in his current state. At least if he slept, he wouldn’t be morose about it.
“I always wanted to do something like this with you,” Horus said, quietly.
Seth frowned and opened his eyes again. “What?”
“Something peaceful. Like this. Or maybe in a boat.” Horus smiled ruefully. “Where we’re not racing or fighting.”
“Always…? You mean you imagined us doing this when I was kicking you around the palace or during any of our other duels?”
“…”
“And what, you expected me to enjoy being bound like this?” Seth scoffed. “You’re more of an idiot than I thought you were.” He frowned. “…Or more cunning and sadistic, I suppose, wanting your prisoner with you during times like this.”
Horus didn’t reply to that, and Seth settled back down, too, imagining the conversation was over.
Foolishness, all of it.
A soft breeze blew over his skin, smelling of greenery and animals, and he couldn’t resist a soft sigh at it.
The panic of it all – being bound, being reminded again of how much Horus was like his father – had receded just a little somehow, and he could acknowledge that this was nice, in a way. Not that he’d ever admit it aloud. And his jailer throwing him little nothings meant nothing at all.
Nothing. At all.