Souban had almost fallen asleep. The stupid girl wouldn't leave! She wanted to finish Set off, but couldn't deal with them both at once, without some kind of ruckus. She was waiting next to Set in the hope that Asima would leave or fall asleep.

When the Priest called out her alias, she jerked awake and muffled a yawn. "Yes?" Chiam answered, leaning over so Set could see him. If he could see. Why hadn't the venom worked?"

"I need... your help..." Set replied slowly, the magic that lit hit eyes seemed to flicker high and low, "I've never been... a healer... my magic... does not seem to like... making repairs." he took a deep breath, trying to even out his speech, "yours is more flexible... I don't expect much... but I would appreciate the attempt..."

Chiam was silent, though inside Souban was jumping for joy. Finally, the male nodded. He placed his hands above Set, then glanced at Asima. "Uhm...Please forgive me Princess...I...can't concentrate..."

Asima hesitated, glancing at Set to see if he wanted or trusted being alone with the male.

Set nodded, "it's alright princess" he assured her, though as soon as Asima left the room the priest gripped Chiam's hand, "If this does not work Chiam..." he cringed, clenching his teeth a moment as the wave of pain came and passed, "I need your help with something else as well... a dire measure, but if I die I need you to unleash it... It's the only thing that will stop Souban for certain."

Souban was alarmed by the intensity, but nodded obediently. Set had 'told' her about Souban before, so it was nothing knew. "What do you want me to do?"

Asima nodded and left quietly.

"Into the desert" Set rested his head, his vision was blurring again, "where all you see is sand... far from people and places... it is the heart of magic..." his eyes began to roll back in his head and the glowing blue faded to an ember, "the heart..." he mumbled before passing out again.

The heart of magic? That sounded powerful. Something that could enhance her magic? Souban felt like growling in irritation. Into the desert? Far from people and places? That was specific.

Chiam licked his lips and glanced towards the doorway before laying a hand on Set's forehead. Who cared if his mind was damaged? Souban would find out where this Heart of Magic was and use it. It would lay waste to both Nemiah and Malum's kingdoms, and she could rule both! Without preparing further, she dug into Set's mind, searching for the specific place.

His mind was like a storm with clouds thundering and sand blowing. As she dug into the mind of the priest it soon became clear that Souban was not the one in control of the place. A pack of jackles was snarling at her heels.

Eventually, Souban tugged herself from his mind, glaring at the still form. "You've made all of this so much harder than it needs to be. Ugh! How much longer do I need to put up with all of you?" She hissed softly.

She paced for a bit, debating. Eventually, greed won out. She wanted the 'Heart of Magic', and Set was the only way to get it. She sighed, before casting a few simple spells she'd learned long ago. The venom began to ooze from the wound. Set wouldn't feel too good for a few days, but he wouldn't die. There might even be permanent damage! The thought cheered Souban up, and she settled down to wait.

Hours passed, Nemiah visited when he could but there was too much for him to so he could not stay long. As Set slept he mumbled words that were not common Egyptian but the older tongue. He called for his brother more than once.
Then he woke, slowly his eyes parted only half way and his head rolled to the side to see who was there, "... hey" his voice was quiet but well heard in the silence.

The girl in disguise sat quietly through his cries, barely looking at Set. It did surprise her slightly, though, that Set seemed to be having nightmares.

When the mage spoke, Souban jerked her head towards him. "Hey..." Chiam smiled at leaned forward, "You want anything? Food or water?"

"... water" Set nodded, managing to sit up he examined his leg, "is it over?" he was still very tired but at least the pain had finally gone down.

Chiam reached over, pouring a glass from the pitcher nearby. He handed the drink over, then nodded. "For the most part...the healer wants you to take it easy for a little while, just in case."

Set took the water and drank it all, letting out a sigh of relief he smiled at Chiam, "You did it then!"

Chiam managed a smile, and nodded. "Yes...I'm glad you're okay. No one could find the snake, though..."

"That doesn't matter for now" Set reached out to grasp Chiam's arm in thanks, "I owe you my life Chiam."

Souban felt like smiling, but Chiam merely shook his head. "After all you've done for me? No, I still owe you..."

(I will be at a Dag event this weekend, so will not be able to reply.)

"You owe me nothing Chiam" Set assured him, relaxing back in bed again, "I should continue to rest."

Souban nodded and left the male alone. She'd done a few other things that would probably kill someone, but the odds were it it wouldn't be the royal family just yet. A servant was found, looking like something had squeezed all of the air from them, but the only thing nearby was an old chair. A pillar fell on another one. Various mysterious deaths kept popping up.

While the royal family had not been injured it still made the servants very nervous. People wouldn't go anywhere without accompaniment, they were afraid and trying to ward off angry spirits at every turn. Little talismans could be found hidden in everyone's pockets.

The string of recent deaths hadn't gone unnoticed by Asima, but, despite searching the rooms everything happened in, she was unable to determine what had killed them. She hadn't spoken with Malum, yet either.

Set's recovery took a few days but soon he was looking into the deaths himself and also coming up rather empty handed. It probably didn't help that he had Chiam help him with most of his inquiries.

"Hey Asima" Malum commented, coming up behind her with a grin and tickling her sides.

(Sorry...sorry....bad me....uhm...reply now Kisu! Right now!)

Souban had done her job well, running her errands for Set, and he seemed to trust her illusion, Chiam more than ever. She still had no idea of the male's weaknesses, however. And ever more frustrating was that her haphazard attacks weren't reaching the people they were meant to.

She decided, however, that since physical attacks were clearly not working as intended, she would focus on various mental attacks. Since everyone in the palace seemed tense and terrified already, she would feed that fire, build it up until the royals and their little puppy dog had no idea who to trust. Souban took advantage of an afternoon running errands for Set to put various people under a spell of her own creation. She targeted mainly servants, and a few priests under Set. Hallucinations, paranoia, to the point where the people had no idea what was real and what was not were the main symptoms. However, it was slow acting, and would vary on the different people. It would be a day or two before any actual events took place with them.

~<3~

Asima gave a squeal, and jerked around, automatically thinking of the strange events that had been taking place. Malum's voice calmed her, however, and relief flooded her, until she remembered this was the man she was avoiding as long as possible. "H-hey...Malum..." She avoided his gaze, but gave him a hug, then turned away again. "I haven't found anything for your memories yet...." It was time to talk with him, she supposed. And it wasn't fair to Solum, either. When Malum was the King of Thieves, he had Solum there to help him, but Solum didn't have his brother. It was selfish to keep him here, even under the pretense of helping him out. "I..." She took a deep breath, before pushing forward, refusing to look at Malum, "I had a talk with Set...He...I mean...we...we think that maybe it would be better if you were Solum. So you can start learning to defend yourself again, and maybe that will help the memories come back, doing and being around things you used to do and be around..."

"Asima" Malum sighed, his smile faded a little, "I can defend myself just fine. And we've been over this, I don't think there is a way to get my real memories back." he sat on the table and poked around at a few of the scrolls, "besides, I'm not sure I want those memories back. From what I have from you and Solum, I seemed like a pretty miserable guy. Now I'm happy" he smiled, "don't you think that's better than before?" As much as he loved his brother, he didn't really want to go back to that life. He was enjoying it there, with Asima, despite all the crazy stuff happening lately. "And besides, there's so much going on around here, don't you need my help to?"

"I am glad you are happy. It's a nice change...you used to be so worried all the time. But, here, there is Set and myself to help things. Who has Solum got?" Asima eyed him reproachfully. "There has to be a way. I'll find it eventually." She shoved a few stands of hair from her face. "But you used to be concerned about your brother. He was everything to you. Have you thought about how he has felt this whole time? He was there for you."

She nodded to the scrolls. "These are old, not commonly used spells. I've been wondering whether all of these occurrences could be Souban. And from what I saw of her, she doesn't use very common spells. They've all been her own, or ones that hadn't been used to a while. I'll finish reading over a few more, and I'll meet you for dinner. Please think about Solum. I wouldn't ask you to go if I truly didn't think it would be best for you, Malum...Our...relationship is putting a lot of strain on Nemiah, as well. Set's right...there could end up being an uprising eventually. All of this with Souban doesn't help things either." Her black hair pooled in front of her face, hiding it from view as she turned back to a scroll, pointedly ending the conversation. It was difficult to ignore Malum like this, but Set was right. He needed to go...for various reasons.