Tarkus was so angry, he would not have been surprised if the polished stone beneath his steps had turned molten. After asking a few guards, he was told where his father had last been seen, the grand audience chamber.<br/><br/>He pushed open the chamber doors roughly. "Father!" He called, looking to the gathering of figures near the elegant throne at the head of it. To Tarkus' horror, it was not his father who sat in it. "Kydul! How dare you sit in my father's throne!" Tarkus could again feel the anxiety of the two young guards at his flank. He was putting them into potential for ambiguous violence a lot today. he wished he had asked more to accompany him, but he had not intended to encounter his father's adviser.<br/><br/>"Your majesty..." Kydul gave a perfunctory bow and stood, though not hurriedly. "Forgive me for any insult, but your father gave me express permission to use the chair while I organized his liege's war efforts."  The men standing near him were now easy to see as hound division men. "It is the only seat in the room after all."<br/><br/>That outraged Tarkus even more. He had never been given, nor had he asked, permission to sit on the throne. "Where is my father?" Tarkus seethed.<br/><br/>"Napping, I assume." Kydul said lazily. His tan skin and tall, skinny features were only accented by a black pencil-thin beard and sharp grey-brown eyes. "He grew bored with these matters, so he left them for me to finish."<br/><br/>The lazy tenancies of his father as of late was just as maddening as his putting trust for such affairs in the hand of this viper. "What do you know of a woman being sent to my chambers to be a consort to me? She came from one of your hound divisions?"<br/><br/>Kydul gave a thin line of a smile. "Ah yes. Your father mentioned that he was going to arrange for a second consort for you." he said the word 'second' with a certain weight of mockery that made Tarkus want to impale him with one of his guard's spears. "He mentioned that you were not clamoring for a rosy-cheeked virgin, so I told him that among the prisoners of our campaign was a certain alluring woman. I described her to your liege father, and he said she should work out fine."<br/><br/>"Did you happen to mention to him that she was covered in bruises and welts? Did you tell him that she was half starved and scared witless? You insult me with your 'gift'." Tarkus did as much as he said.<br/><br/>The men around Kydul brushed their hands against their curved blades, eying Tarkus murderously. The prince wished they would step forward so he could rip them in half...or at least he thought he could. After punching that pillar earlier...he still hadn't forgotten the sensation.<br/><br/>With a short gesture, the hounds around Kydul stood at ease, and then left them, marching out in a dignified manner, giving a low bow to Kydul, and a mere nod of the head t Tarkus.<br/><br/>"I admit...I did not oversee the escort of the woman to your chambers personally. She may have been claimed by one of my hound captains before the word came for her to be given to you. I don't blame your irritation. I will have her taken away and replaced with a woman only recently...acquired..."<br/><br/>"No!" Tarkus said, realizing the trepidation in his voice at him doing that. He solidified his tone before continuing. "No. I would not have any woman treated as such by your insolent dogs. Your insult shall be a jewel sparklin in the sun by the time I am through with her. She will delight all who look upon her, and you men will only watch as she is mine, taken from their beds."<br/><br/>Saying the words made him want to spit again. "And furthermore, I will have my own command of the hound divisions, by my father's order. As Prince of Egypt, I am commander of all the armies, and so will it be for--"<br/><br/>Suddenly, a violent cramp ripped through tarkus' guts, or so it felt. He quivered and gagged, wanting to wretch.<br/><br/>Kydul tilted his head, feigning concern. "Are you okay, my prince? you look unwell..."<br/><br/>"Yes...I...I was saying..." What had he been saying? He felt so nauseous and such pain in his lungs and gut that he couldn't focus.<br/><br/>"Guards..." Kydul said, addressing the concerned men at Tarkus' sides. "Take the young prince to his chambers...it seems he may have...overexerted...himself today."<br/><br/>"You..." But then Tarkus' vision went pale, and he vaguely felt the guards helping him limp from the audience chamber.<br/><br/>He awoke half an hour later, having been brought to a dark room, cooler than the others, reserved for heat stroke. He was disoriented and confused when he sat up. he felt fine now, though the pain he had felt that had apparently made his consciousness fade was dully on the edge of his mind. No longer nauseous, though, he found a small plate of fruits and unrisen bread by his cool water-skin bed. He ate slowly but fully, trying to recall what had happened.<br/><br/>Was he sick? He had eaten little that could have been poisoned, which was his first thought when starring into the eyes of Kydul as his insides felt like they were being twisted around one another.  He stood after he felt certain he had recovered, and walked slowly back to his normal chambers, where Aisha and Layla were.