Chapter Text
Horus didn’t back down from Seth’s anger. He simply gazed back at his uncle and said, “I was given a gift by Hathor after the start of the trial. A hand mirror seemingly with a blessing on it.”
Isis frowned at that, though at least she wasn’t attacking Seth yet.
Seth scowled at the apparent tangent, “And what, you gave it back to her?”
Horus lips parted briefly before he asked, “No. Why?”
“She was waving a hand mirror around after the first match when I passed her in the hall,” Seth said as he crossed his arms. He still recalled how bizarre dealing with her fire magic was. What does this have to do with anything? I already know about the junk mirror she’s obsessed with.
Horus stared at him for a while again before asking, “Was it bronze, with gold and red ornamentation? And a sun on the back?”
Seth frowned at him and asked, “Yeah. Why?” He remembered it being a gaudy piece of crap, if anything.
Horus looked away for a while, seemingly thinking, before looking back at Seth and saying, “I didn’t give Hathor back the mirror, but I’m curious if there’s more to this than even I thought. After the first match, I was in my room, and saw the mirror shine. When I drew close to investigate it, I saw you in the mirror, and was drawn inside, and met Nephthys.”
Seth blinked in confusion at that. “What?” He saw me?
“I do not believe it is the Nephthys who is imprisoned in the cell in the palace,” Horus said. “Though I haven’t spoken to her about it… The person I met in the mirror, who claimed to be the real Nephthys, while the one in the cell in Heliopolis is a fake, also professed no knowledge of events after what sounded like the start of your marriage.” He looked at Isis then. “She’d been in there a long time. If how she understands things is true, I imagine someone may have cast a spell on Nephthys in the past to do this.”
The real Nephthys trapped in a mirror? Seth thought, horrified. What nonsense…
“It’s an odd illusion,” Thoth said, thoughtfully, “if that’s what it is. And Seth being related to something Hathor gave you…?”
“I don’t know that it was an illusion,” Horus said. “And I don’t know why Uncle Seth appeared there, though the timing is curious. But Nephthys was not what trapped me there, nor did she keep me there, like I imagine an illusion would. She claimed to be trapped, herself, by the mirror, and wanted me to warn others about her.”
Seth’s hands curled into fists. “This is ridiculous. Nephthys has never been captured by anyone! Let alone some magic mirror! I can summon her here to talk to her, and prove it!” She’d never spoken to him of a curse! He’d have done something if he’d known!
Even if he couldn’t do magic, he knew his wife!
He pressed his lips together.
Do I know her? Is this why she went to Osiris? Was she just an illusion the whole time?
It sounded too good – and too horrible – to be true.
“I will speak in front of Maat’s scales again,” Horus said, gazing back into Seth’s eyes and giving Seth pause. “Everything I say is the truth as I know it, though I profess I don’t fully understand it either. This kind of magic is beyond me.”
Seth scoffed at that and crossed his arms.
“I will hand over the mirror,” Horus said. “So Isis can uncover the mystery behind this, perhaps with Thoth’s help, as I lack the ability to undo this, if it’s even possible. But you must guarantee Isis’ safety.”
“And if it has nothing to do with Nephthys?” Seth demanded, finding the whole situation farcical. “If it’s just some stupid illusion created by the flighty daughter of another enemy?”
“Then I suppose what you do is up to you,” Horus said, neutrally. “But if you don’t agree, you won’t find the mirror again.”
Sand swirled around Seth’s ankles. “You’d threaten me with Nephthys?!”
“You believe it has nothing to do with her,” Horus countered, standing his grand, even as sand approached his feet, and a pot holding a plant nearby exploded, sending ceramic shards all over. “I believe it does. And if nothing else, it’s worth investigating.” He glanced at Isis before looking back at Seth. “My mother is the reason I am here. I have never sought your defeat. I solely wish to see that she is safe.”
“Horus!” Isis said, clearly growing angry.
But Horus only watched Seth, clearly committed.
Seth breathed in deeply before scoffing again, “You think, after what your damn mother pulled in that match, that I will generously agree to all of this?” Growing those horrible plants, destroying his boat, helping her son cheat…
Isis had turned her back on him before, but this was something else on top of all that. He knew she hated him, and it wasn’t surprising. But it didn’t bank his fury.
Horus bowed his head. “I know we wronged you, my mother included. But we were trying to restore my mother’s rights, and to protect Egypt, and you are a dangerous god, so much risk was necessary. That is also part of why I am willing to be ruthless again. Because the potential reward is worth it.”
Seth could almost respect that. He let the sand go, leaving the room calmer.
Thoth breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
“I would readily conclude the trial if this were accepted,” Maat said as she looked Seth’s way. “Egypt could use the two sides working on reconciliation, even in this slight a manner. And if the god of peace is truly cursed somehow, perhaps removing the curse, and restoring Nephthys, whatever version of her is real, may yet lead to greater healing.”
Seth nearly snarled at that, still smarting over how much leeway Horus’ side was getting. Even if he supposed there was maybe something in Nephthys being cursed affecting other things… There was far more to what was wrong with Egypt than just that.
Osiris was the rot at the core of everything, not Nephthys.
Seth wondered if Maat thought Nephthys could control him if she was freed of this hypothetical curse, perhaps make him play nice with the other gods who backed Osiris. It was almost laughable.
“A wise king would agree,” Maat noted. “You have little to lose, and perhaps much to gain. Unless you don’t care for your wife?”
Seth felt his chest heat up, painfully. His feelings for Nephthys were a mess at the best of times. In the hundreds of years since he’d learned what she’d done, they’d barely spoken more than a handful of words to each other. He thought she’d leave, perhaps join up with Isis after helping Isis escape the labyrinth, but she never had. She’d just stayed in her cell. And he stayed far away from her, in part because he imagined she didn’t want him around her. After all, she’d chosen Osiris. She’d lied to him for hundreds of years.
He couldn’t abandon her, though, even now. He wouldn’t. Even if Horus’ story sounded farfetched. Once, he’d have done anything to help Nephthys if she needed it. And he couldn’t turn his back on her if she’d really been harmed. If she’d been replaced somehow and the woman he’d cared for was suffering…
He couldn’t abide by that. But something else was bothering him…
Why wait until now to use this? Seth wondered, as he gazed at Horus, who waited quietly for Seth to make up his mind. He could have brought it up before the second match started, to goad me into backing down… Unless he knows it’s a flimsy lie and a last resort…
That made him even angrier.
“A hand mirror from Hathor…” Isis said, quietly and thoughtfully. “This sounds familiar…”
Seth looked at Isis, who was frowning at the ground. He also felt something vaguely twig his memory, though he thought it was just the night of the first match, when he’d had Hathor’s hand mirror in his possession.
“Didn’t you get a mirror like that from Osiris?” Isis asked as she looked at Seth. Her blue eyes were sharp and angry. “After he defeated Ra. It was included in your portion of the winnings.”
Seth frowned and thought back. It was a long time ago… “I did. But I gave it to…”
“What’s all this?”
“I don’t know. You can have it.”
“A bronze mirror? How pretty!”
His eyes widened in alarm as he recalled that day.
Horus was watching him, still, as if he somehow knew what Seth remembered, though there was no way he could.
Seth’s hands clenched tighter into fists. Did I give Nephthys something cursed? What did it do to her?
Is this… my fault?
He wanted to storm out and demand answers from Hathor. He wanted—!
No. He breathed in heavily, recalling what hasty decisions had led him to in the past. He refused to be Osiris, rushing to his own doom.
Attacking Hathor wouldn’t necessarily benefit Nephthys, if some part of her was stuck in a mirror somehow. And if it was just some trick, showing his hand so obviously would be foolish: most of the wars he fought were instigated by Ra, and she’d readily back her favored child if it came to it. He could be dragged into a new war for no reason, even if he did have a desire to hunt Ra and her progeny down.
He reminded himself that he couldn’t use complex magic. His sand was one thing, but anything else was beyond him. He couldn’t undo curses on objects, and when he’d held Hathor’s hand mirror, which was seemingly near-identical to the one in his memory, he’d felt nothing in particular about it.
Even ignoring dealing with Hathor, he didn’t know anyone else he could trust on this even if he had the mirror in his hands: Isis was the goddess of magic, and even Thoth, the god of knowledge, seemed perplexed by it. Going to war wouldn’t solve the issue, and, if Nephthys were cursed, it would just prolong her suffering.
Seth was out of options. Cornered, even in victory.
He glared at Isis, who glared right back at him. He at least couldn’t detect any deception from her, though that meant little: Isis was a good strategist, too.
“If Hathor,” Isis said, “and perhaps Ra, are making a move against Horus, then, for my part, it bears investigating. And if something has happened to Nephthys, then…” She breathed in deeply. “I’ll discover what this is, and try to break it.”
“Fine,” Seth said. He looked first at Horus and then Maat. “I guarantee Isis’ protection while she’s investigating the mirror to help Nephthys. Or whatever is stuck in there.” If it was nothing, then he wouldn’t really be wasting time, and it should keep Isis too busy to plan more attacks on him.
Horus breathed a sigh of relief.
“Then we will end the trial,” Maat said. “Seth is the clear winner.”
Isis scowled and looked away.
Seth felt a bit hollow. His enemies were stuck with him, after all. True, he’d been hunting Isis down, but now that she was here, that was moot. And without the trial as a distraction…
She’ll be focused on this, he thought. I can figure out what to do with her after this is sorted.
“It could be dangerous to confront Hathor now,” Horus warned as he gazed at Seth. “It’s likely she knows what the mirror does.”
“Could she manipulate it from a distance?” Isis asked. “She’s never demonstrated that kind of power…”
“She used fire magic,” Seth said, drawing everyone’s attention again. “When I confronted her. She’s clearly been keeping her abilities secret.” Certainly she was if she knew curses strong enough to affect a god without anyone else knowing.
“So try not to antagonize her or Ra,” Isis said. “After all, if it’s the same mirror somehow, Osiris took the mirror from Ra. Who knows what it really does? Or what Ra’s plans are.”
Seth rolled his eyes. He knew, after all the years of being at war. He didn’t need Isis to remind him. He looked at Horus. “Where is the mirror, then?”
Seth stared at the mirror in Isis’ hands as they stood in Horus’ room in the palace. Horus had brought their whole group there, and opened a chest where he’d dug out the mirror.
I could have found it, he thought as he gazed at the thing, so clear now in his memory from ages past. There are precious few places for him to hide it, after all. Perhaps Horus' threat was just an empty one, but he still didn’t have the power to do anything with it without Isis' magical expertise. Even now, he didn’t detect anything from it. If he'd rejected the agreement, and Isis fled or simply refused to help, he'd have an object he couldn't anything with, and no one to consult for help, while hoping he'd taken the correct gambit that Horus' story was just lies.
He'd have never been able to live with himself. He'd have never known if the Nephthys he knew was even real. After everything they'd gone through, how would he have even been able to check? Maat was unlikely to help him, especially if the trial continued. Sure, he might have won, but Maat's help wasn't guaranteed even then.
“If Hathor has a second one of these,” Thoth said as he looked at the mirror, too, “And Seth confronted her around the same time Horus looked into it… maybe the mirror has a two-way communication function of some kind.”
When the other gods looked at him, Thoth smiled serenely. “It’s just a thought! I’ve seen some magic that works that way before, though it’s very complex… But Ra might be able to do it.”
Seth wondered if the birdbrain was trying to justify sticking around.
Thoth noticed Seth’s look and moved slightly behind Maat, putting her between them.
Seth snorted and looked back at the mirror.
“If so,” Isis said, “the question is how to get it from her without alerting her to what’s going. Or if my tampering with the mirror would alert her, and possibly endanger Nephthys.”
Assuming it’s really connected to Nephthys somehow, Seth thought. He still wasn’t sure about the idea of Nephthys being trapped and replaced.
“Before you mess with the mirror itself,” Maat said, “You could question the Nephthys we know. The one in the cell. To get her memories of the mirror, if they exist, or perhaps see if she has some inkling about it and has been hiding it. She’s never spoken about anything like this?” She looked at Seth, pointedly.
Seth shrugged. “She never mentioned something like that. She just liked the mirror, and we never spoke about it again. It was right before she became pregnant with Anubis, so we were distracted with other matters.” He frowned.
A cursed mirror as a gift from Osiris, coming into Seth and Nephthys’ possession right before Nephthys began pregnant with Osiris’ child? It had to be a coincidence…
Or was it? Was he too quick to believe it was too good to be true that this might be connected to the mess with Osiris?
“We have to be wary of her,” Horus said. “If she’s really fake, she might alert Hathor.”
“An illusion like that couldn’t have been maintained for so long,” Isis said, shaking her head. “She had to give birth, and I was there for the pregnancy. Even Ra would struggle to maintain such a powerful spell through that.” She gazed at the mirror. “We can be careful with the questioning, but whatever Horus saw in the mirror, there must be more to it. And the Nephthys we know is one of our few leads.”
“Then we’ll talk to her,” Seth said. He hated that his hand shook a little. “And see if she knows anything.”
He caught Isis looking at him with a frown, and wondered if she’d connected the dots, too, about the timing, and how Osiris might be involved in this. But he had no desire to say anything in front of Maat, Thoth, and Horus.
Maybe it’s irrelevant, he thought. It might not matter at all. He didn’t know if Nephthys would spill her secret about her relationship with Osiris to the others, but just worrying about it wouldn’t get them anywhere, either. If she was an illusion, he had no control over what she might do. And if she was cursed, what mattered more was fixing the curse, not his pride.
He wondered if Isis had told Horus, anyway, and how much, if so. It didn’t make a ton of sense for her to leave her son in the dark about things, though it made him wonder why Horus never used it during the trial, to show how weak Seth was. Even now, Horus just stood quietly, letting the older immortals handle things, as if he had nothing at all to contribute.
He's cunning in his own way, Seth thought, still smarting over the match. He’d won, but Horus was successful in manipulating him to a degree.
I won against Osiris in the end, too, he thought as he turned to the doorway to lead them to Nephthys’ cell.
But once outside, he discovered Anubis standing nearby, his arms at his sides, his hands curled into fists. There was a determined expression on his face as he gazed up at Seth.
“Father,” Anubis said. “We should talk.”