Chapter Text
Horus was sitting against a wall in the torchlit chamber of the labyrinth when he heard someone approaching. He chose not to stand, as it was unlikely to be someone freeing him. Horus had already tried sending his birds into the labyrinth, and promptly lost contact with them. He had no hope he’d fare better. And he couldn’t afford to constantly waste precious energy through more tests.
Anubis appeared from the darkness, looking as disinterested as Horus felt. He carried a basket with food in it, as well as more fuel for the torches. But only enough to last a short while. He glanced briefly at Horus before walking to the spot in the middle of the room where he always set everything.
Horus watched him, but said nothing either. A wrong word could ruin anything, make Anubis flee, and lose Horus a chance to get out of here.
After Anubis set his items down, he looked at Horus with a frown. “I don’t think Isis will look kindly on learning you don’t keep your promises.”
Horus raised one eyebrow as he replied, “What promise? The one I made with you during the second match?” He gestured to the room. “I didn’t precisely win the match with all your help, did I? Your father saw through the ruse.”
“The promise wasn’t for you to win,” Anubis countered as he turned to Horus. “The promise was for me to lend you my boat. And I did. You owe me.”
You even sound like him, Horus thought, grimly. It disgusted him. Anubis was a spoiled brat of a prince, trying to tear down Seth, and Horus hated the sight of him, especially now that he relied on the older demigod’s goodwill for food. But ignoring him was no good.
Anubis waited, clearly patient, for now.
“My mother would think me a fool for giving up what little leverage would get me out of here,” Horus replied. “Even if I think your argument is fair, she’s already scolded me for not doing my duties properly. And currently, in her eyes, my duty would be to escape.”
“Because you lied when you said you’d serve my father,” Anubis said, mockingly.
“I didn’t,” Horus replied. “I mean to serve him here, if he wishes. But my mother did not make that promise. She believes I should want to escape.” He did not like the labyrinth either and worried about what was happening to his mother and Seth while he was trapped here. But what choice did he have? He’d tried getting out. Seth hadn’t returned and Anubis was largely unhelpful.
Anubis shook his head, clearly finding the line of reasoning irksome.
“How is it you can get around here so easily?” Horus asked. “Did Seth teach you?” He hadn’t asked before out of frustration to have to deal with Anubis, but he’d had a lot of time to consider things while stuck down here.
“Yes,” Anubis said as he glanced away, seeming uncomfortable. “A long time ago. He can’t destroy the place, nor can Isis. Rather than have it be used against us someday, my father showed Mother and I how to get around it on our own.”
“That’s how Nephthys knew how to rescue my mother?” Horus asked.
Anubis nodded. “Mother said that Father would take her here to learn the place. And only when she learned it completely and could take herself out on her own, did he propose.”
That seems like a lot of work, Horus thought. It must have hurt him that she used it to save Isis. “Why propose here?”
Anubis looked around the room thoughtfully. “Mother said that Father liked the challenge of the place, and sometimes the solitude. It was a place he could push himself safely, and not worry about his duties. And he wanted to share it with her.”
And it worked, Horus thought. “Why not use my freedom to barter for what you want?”
Anubis glared at him. “Because I couldn’t get you out of here even if I wanted to! There’s a special path you have to take if you’re with someone. Father never taught me it. He only taught me the solo path. He worried I’d bring someone else here and get lost or get them lost. But you have to know the paired path to use it. When he taught me, he used sand animals. They don’t count as people.” He looked around. “This place is good for hunting practice, and he wanted me to get used to going into it alone.”
Horus frowned. It was a good and easy way to ensure Anubis couldn’t help anyone. “How did he discover the paired path?”
Anubis shrugged and replied, “Father’s always been creative that way. Mother said he spent a lot of time here when he was bored, exploring. Centuries, even. If anyone knows their way around this place and all its odd ways, it would be him.”
Horus imagined as much. He recalled Isis’ letters with Seth, and how wise Seth seemed. In combat he demonstrated skill that wasn’t simply or easy, but something he clearly worked to maintain. It was admirable.
“You could have lied to me,” Horus eventually said. “Pretended you could get me out to get what you want.”
“You would wait until I got you out first,” Anubis replied. “And I wouldn’t be able to.” He seemed very frustrated as he said so.
Horus thought that was weirdly honest and observant for Anubis. He leaned back and said, “Fine. I’ll tell you what you want to know. But given you haven’t succeeded thus far, I doubt it’ll work for you.”
Anubis glared at Horus and demanded, “Just tell me!”
So Horus did.
Isis glared as she walked through the halls of Heliopolis. The place was once home and now felt too familiar and too alien. It had been too long since she’d been here before the trial. And walking about with the stink of failure wrapped around her shoulders, and worry over Horus, made everything darker, even at midday.
She was making no progress in her research into the mirror, and had learned that Thoth had been helping Seth with some of his audiences, which was aggravating!
Insufferable, opportunistic bird brain! She thought as she moved closer to Nephthys’ cell. She wouldn’t have bothered with the traitor if she hadn’t been desperate! If Seth seeks to gloat about this before me, he has another thing coming!
Now she planned to study Nephthys more, to see if she could grasp something about the curse from the other goddess. In all the years they’d lived together since the alleged incident where whatever happened with the mirror happened, she’d never noticed anything, and she felt even more of a fool for it. It was like Ra was mocking her again at a distance, and Isis was glad the other goddess was far away and hadn’t come calling since the second match concluded.
That was beneath the specter of Osiris fooling her. If he was involved in this whole mess, that meant he possibly knew what he was doing by leaving Isis in charge of things. But why did he trust I wouldn’t keep the mirror? It feels too risky…
She was used to her brothers overlooking her, but from Osiris, with this of all things… it hurt in a way she didn’t like thinking about. An insult and a pain that kept her awake too many nights, after everything else he’d done to her.
Isis rounded the corner and found Nephthys, as usual, laying on the floor in her cell, not doing much. The golden-haired goddess sat up as Isis drew near, and gazed up at Isis with fearful eyes.
Isis narrowed her gaze at her sister. In times past, they’d been the closest friends. They’d worked together, ate together, went on trips around the city together… They’d confided in each other when they couldn’t speak to Seth or Osiris. Isis had supported her sister through childbirth and raising Anubis, and Nephthys had supported Isis through wars and rule. To know Nephthys had lied to her about so much, for centuries, had been harder than anything, until Isis had seen Seth and Osiris together.
That I hate them doesn’t change my feelings for her, Isis thought as she drew closer. “Nephthys.”
“Isis,” Nephthys replied, quietly. She was clearly fearful, but stayed where she was, rather than cowering away.
Isis studied Nephthys more, looking for anything new. The magic traces she’d seen before were still there, but no more helpful than they’d been. The mirror was ancient, and felt like Ra’s power, and Hathor. And there was little else Isis had to go on.
After a while, Nephthys asked, “Do you need me for something, Isis?”
“You can’t rescue my son, so no,” Isis said. If this Nephthys was somehow not right or real, Isis wasn’t going to let on about what was happening. But Isis didn’t think she was some sort of construct of a mirror… That didn’t make sense. What purpose would Ra have for that?
“Rescue…?” Nephthys asked, confused. “Did something happen to him?”
Isis snorted as she said, “Your husband trapped him in the labyrinth, like he trapped me.”
Nephthys’ eyes widened in shock, and then she lowered her head. “Oh no…”
“And now you’re stuck in here,” Isis said, annoyed. This was still the person who got her out of the labyrinth, after all. If Isis really wanted, she could probably break the cell. She wasn’t sure how Seth would react…
Nephthys flinched, and her lips parted, and then closed.
Isis sighed before saying, “Spit it out. What?”
“The door isn’t locked,” Nephthys said, quietly. “I… can leave, if I wish. Seth didn’t put me here, I… put myself in here.”
Isis blinked and then looked at the door. It was closed, certainly, but when she touched it, it pushed open, easily, under her hands.
Isis stared, grappling with this. “You could get out at any time?! But you stay in there?!”
Nephthys grimaced as she replied, “I must! I am responsible for what Seth has done!”
“You coward,” Isis hissed. “Even now, you haven’t changed!” But as she saw Nephthys cringe away from her, she thought, I can get her to save Horus, can’t I?
…But then what will Seth do? Will he just trap Horus somewhere else? And what if this curse of hers makes her do something to Horus?!
Isis bit her lip. I can’t let her near him. If she’s my sister, then she’s still questionable. If she’s… something else, or controlled by something else, I can’t trust her with him!
“I am a coward,” Nephthys said, quietly, into the dirt, clearly wretched. “I’m sorry, Isis. I—”
“Enough of your false regret,” Isis snapped back, making Nephthys flinch. “If you really cared, you would have fought your husband, or helped the humans, or even just defended your precious son, if only because he’s Osiris’!” Her eyes burned, but she refused to back down just yet. She didn’t know the full measure of what was happening here, but it still hurt, regardless. Either this was her sister, and she’d hurt Isis, or it was something else! “But instead you do nothing, as usual.” She scoffed.
Nephthys looked up at her, and there were tears in her eyes. But Isis had seen those before.
Isis turned and stalked off. Useless. That Osiris would give her a son before me…
Horus looked up from where he’d been studying a wall in the labyrinth to see Isis walking with a torch in her hand and a large sand sha at her side. The creature made little sound as it padded along, and came up to Isis’ hip.
Isis ignored the creature and only had eyes for Horus. She studied him for a while before looking around the room with distaste. “Seth kept me here, as well. Of course he’d trap you here, too.”
Horus nodded, not having anything else to say. He could see she was angry.
Isis drew closer to Horus, and the sha stayed by the entrance, where it sat, watching them, no doubt a sign from Seth that they wouldn’t have a moment of privacy.
Isis reached out to brush her hands over Horus’ cheeks and his shoulders, checking him over.
Horus was used to this. Isis had looked him over like this since he was born.
“At least he’s not starving you,” Isis said, clearly annoyed. Her eyes were worried as she gazed up at him.
“And you’re well?” Horus asked. He could tell she looked just as he had when last he saw her: regal, healthy, and angry. If nothing else, Seth was keeping his word on that front.
“I get by,” Isis said, still sounding unhappy about it. Then she pulled away and walked a few paces away, to put distance between them.
Horus watched her, wary. She’d been annoyed with him a great deal since the trial began, and he did not want to fight more with her, especially now. He didn’t fear what Seth might glean from the encounter, but he was just not in the mood for more discord.
“Why did you give in?” Isis demanded as she turned back to him, angry again. “Why did you tell the court what happened?”
“Seth won, Mother,” Horus replied, evenly. “Fair and square. The thing is done.” They couldn’t go back. And he still didn’t like Anubis’ comment about the gods choosing fights that put Seth at a disadvantage. That Seth had triumphed all the same spoke volumes.
Isis scoffed before saying, “You could have kept silent! You could have…” She frowned.
“Told half-truths to avoid things?” Horus offered. “That would be wrong.”
“You sound like you’ve given up,” Isis said, angry. “You sound defeated. Almost cowardly. Like Nephthys.”
Horus stared back at her evenly. “Seth could have killed me any number of times in those two matches. He didn’t. Would you really call me a coward for stepping knowingly into that situation?” He’d offered himself up for this, too. That was not generally what a coward did.
Isis grimaced in frustration before turning away. “No. I’m… sorry. I spoke with your aunt. It made me upset.”
Horus wondered what that was like. He’d still never spoken to Nephthys. But Horus didn’t want his mother to leave on a bad note, and asked, “Do you know why Seth spared me when he didn’t have to?” Horus had been thinking it over a lot. Although the challenges were designed to hurt him, he showed he could overcome them.
“He knew he’d be declared a loser by default,” Isis said. “Perhaps he was scared of Maat’s retribution. Or Ra’s.”
Horus pondered that, thinking it wasn’t the case. Seth had attacked them all, even when Maat and Ra were around. Even when Seth’s own parents sat in the stands, he attacked. It made Horus wonder just what Seth thought of Nut and Geb. Nut had spoken only briefly and sadly about her son when Horus was with her, and he had thought it best not to push, no matter how curious he was. Geb, on the other hand, was quiet most of the time, and even harder to speak to.
But Seth would have hurt them both if he could, Horus thought. Then again, they came into his palace with an army against him. It’s not that surprising. He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if his mother raised an army against him.
“I want to hear what happened to you in the mirror again,” Isis said, interrupting his thoughts. “In case I’ve missed something.” She gazed at him and said, “Tell me everything.”
Horus gave her all the detail he could. Including one part he hadn’t quite gotten around to in all the rush before.
“So you know she won’t get out?” Isis demanded, sounding annoyed. “Why bother with this whole farce, then? Just to get Seth to leave me alone?” She glanced at the sha, who didn’t move. If Seth was paying attention, the sha was not indicating it.
“It was from my intuition,” Horus said. “But my intuition also said that Seth would lose the match, which didn’t happen. So I’m worried… my intuition is wrong. Or I’m misreading it. And if so, perhaps it’s wrong about Nephthys and the mirror.” He looked away, a bit embarrassed. “Or I’m wrong about what it tells me.”
Isis gave him a worried look. “You can’t be in doubt at a time like this. You’re in danger here. I am, too. Everyone is, while Seth is on the throne. You need to remain focused!”
“Yes, Mother,” Horus said. He didn’t comment there was little else to do while he was here.
Isis sighed before walking up to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll get you out of here, Horus. I will make things right.”
He believed she’d try, though he wasn’t sure of the success. He still put on a smile for her.
Isis seemed to think that was enough as she headed back out with the sha, who didn’t even glance at Horus before walking back with Isis.
I wonder how much Seth can really hear through that, Horus thought again as he watched them vanish. Is it like my birds? Will he bring vengeance on me now for admitting that things might not go as we hope?
But he barely had time to ponder before he heard more footsteps, and then turned to see Seth walking into the room, alone, with no torch.