Chapter 4

“What are you doing?” Marik asked when Bakura suddenly stopped in his tracks and pulled a book from his cloak.  “What is that?” 

“You really do ask too many questions,” Bakura mused, flipping through the pages of the book and tapping one with his finger.  Marik looked on over Bakura’s shoulder as the teen read through a page of material several times. 

“Why is it written in a random combination of English and Arabic?” Marik asked. 

“Because you can read in English and Arabic,” Bakura answered distractedly. 

“That answer makes no sense at all,” Marik said.  “What is this book?  This looks like some kind of spell you’re reading.” 

Bakura grinned.  “Exactly,” he said.  “Aren’t you a genius?” 

Marik frowned at his sarcastic tone and had a sharp response ready on the tip of his tongue when Bakura snapped the book closed and glanced over at him.  The excited expression on his friend’s face gave him pause.  Bakura hadn’t looked this invigorated since he’d been on the verge of winning a duel against the Pharaoh. 

“We’re here,” he said. 

“Where?” Marik asked, not comprehending.  He glanced around at the empty desert and the sand dunes progressing for miles in each direction, and then looked back at Bakura and his cheerful expression.  “You mean the sandglass is here,” he asked, “under the sand?” 

“Precisely,” Bakura practically chirped. 

“But we didn’t bring any shovels,” Marik pointed out.  “How are we going to retrieve it?  This sand is hot, and I am not going to burn my hands digging through it.” 

“Ah, well,” Bakura said, “aren’t you a princess?  That’s why I brought this handy little book.” 

Marik glared. 

“How is a book full of gibberish supposed to help us?” he snapped. 

“The Book of Ancients isn’t just any book,” Bakura answered.  “It contains all of the great spells of the world.” 

“Well,” said Marik, “then how come I’ve never heard of it?” 

“Actually, you have,” said Bakura.  “Here, take a look.” 

Marik watched closely as Bakura flipped through the pages again and stopped on one with a picture of the seven Millennium Items.  “This is...” Marik began slowly. 

“Yes,” Bakura said, “this is the spell that was used to create the items.” 

“Wow,” said Marik.  “What else is in here?” 

“Uh, uh, uh,” Bakura reprimanded, snatching the book away from Marik’s curious fingers and grinning mischievously.  “That is also what I wanted to know,” he said.  “So I obtained the book with my father on one of his excavations.  There are all kinds of handy spells here.  Some of them require more power and expertise than even I possess.  But the spell that I am about to use is quite simple actually.  Let me demonstrate.” 

Bakura cleared his throat and turned to face the open desert, lifting both of his arms in the air.  Marik watched with amusement as Bakura called upon the energy stored within his Millennium Item and began flailing his arms about in the manner of an Arabian belly dancer.  Finally, he lifted both arms, palms up, and the sand began to move, blowing out from the center of a circle and creating a crater.  Marik shielded his eyes as the sand blew about them, and when he opened them, he saw something glimmering at the bottom of the crater. 

“It worked!” Bakura exclaimed excitedly, sliding down the dune to the center of the crater.  Marik followed and watched as Bakura picked up a golden disk from the sand.  The disk supported six rotating coins around a hollow center where a glass orb encased a handful of swirling sand. 

“It that the sandglass?” Marik asked, reaching to touch the strange device.  Bakura swatted his hand away and lifted the sandglass up to eye level where he squinted to read an inscription. 

“Huh,” he said after a moment, “it seems the number of rings engraved in each coin determines the amount of time you go back: one for a minute, two for an hour, three for a day, four for a year, five for a decade, and six for a century.  You pull the bottom clip out to loosen the coins, make your turns, and then retighten the clip.” 

“Seems like it’ll take a lot of turns to go back five thousand years,” said Marik. 

“You can rotate the whole disk to go back a millennium,” Bakura answered.  “Are you ready?” 

“Wait!” Marik exclaimed.  “You’re not going to land us in the middle of the desert, are you?  We don’t have enough provisions for the journey back to civilization.” 

“Of course not,” said Bakura, “I have a place in mind.  I’ll just have it land us there.” 

“Where?” asked Marik. 

“A city called Kena, if you must know.” 

“And where is that?” 

“It’s between my old hide out and the city of Thebes.” 

“Why not just land in Thebes?” asked Marik.  “That’s where the Pharaoh is, isn’t it?” 

“Oh yes,” said Bakura, “let’s just land ourselves in a highly populated city where the Pharaoh can notice us before we have time to make our move.  Wouldn’t that be brilliant?” 

 “Okay, okay, I get it,” said Marik, “but the first thing we’re going to do when we get to this ‘Kena’ is drink a gallon of water.” 

“A gallon of beer,” Bakura corrected.  “The water back then wasn’t exactly clean.” 

Marik groaned.  “I imagine the alcohol wasn’t good either.” 

 “I used to think it was the best thing ever, until I tasted the stuff you’ve got nowadays.” 

“And how did your beer compare?” Marik asked. 

Bakura laughed.  “It was s**t,” he said.  “I can’t believe I ever liked it.”