A/N: Okay, before you review mentioning this, yes I know that it was poor editing on my part in the last chapter. I accidently forgot to type part of one of Ardeth's lines, and I said that Sarah's mom died when she was three, not five as it says in the first chapter. I'm sorry about that, and if you could just ignore it, that would be lovely.

Chapter 7

"He's Here"

I sighed in relief as we approached the Fort. Now we could get Uncle Andrew some help, with cleaning out his sockets and mouth, and numbing the pain, at least. Even with the cloth, his eye sockets still could have gotten infected, there'd been a lot of sand blowing around. As we got inside the fort, Uncle Mark and Dad helped us dismount. Uncle Andrew and I sat down on a bench, as Uncle Mark and Dad led the horses away to a stable, and went to go find where a doctor was. We didn't want Uncle Andrew to have to walk around all over the Fort, it was easier, and faster, just to wait while they found one.

"Sarah? Sarah, where are you?" Without his tongue, it sounded like Sar-ah, with long a's and r's, but I didn't care. I put my hand on his arm.

"Right here." I said.

"Last night." He began, starting to tell me the story. "When we were running through the City, I moved my foot funny, and I tripped. I guess no one heard me, the diggers didn't understand me, and your dad and Henderson were running too fast, I guess. I'd lost my glasses, and I was trying to find them. I guess I was kind of panicking, you know how normally I'll just sweep my arms from my sides to my head, and wait until it hit's them? Well, I kept moving my hands around, and I got even more scared when I couldn't find them, I think it was because I kept thinking that that mummy was going to come up behind me any second. I heard someone behind me, it was that little weasel-y guide, Beni. He was yelling something, but I couldn't make it out. Then, do you know what he did? He stepped on my glasses. I was asking him to help me find my glasses, but he ignored me, and I heard the glass crack at the same time I saw his foot in the side of my vision, then, you'd think that he would have at least helped me stand, right? No, he grabbed my torch, I'd dropped it when I tripped, and ran off, screaming."

"If I ever see that dirty rat again" I said "I'll kill him."

"He didn't come with us, did he? He must've gotten killed by that mummy." Uncle Andrew mused. "I don't think you want to hear about the next part."

"You mean, when the mummy" I trailed off, not wanting to say 'ripped out your eyes and tongue.'

"Yes." Uncle Andrew said. "But there's not much to tell, I just remember seeing his face, or rather, what I could see, I only saw this big black thing in the shape of a head, and then all I remember is pain." He shuddered.

"You don't need to say anything if it bothers you." I said.

We sat there in silence for a little while. A few people past us, some of them minding their own business, only glancing at us for a second or two, but others openly stared at us, stopping. One woman looked like she was about to say something, but I cut her off with a glare. Uncle Andrew and I didn't need to be explaining anything to someone who had no business knowing it. Looking surprised, she walked away.

"What do you think's going to happen to me?" Uncle Andrew asked suddenly.

"We're going to get you to a doctor, and he's going to do, something, I don't know what." I said. "Then we're going to that apartment that we rented out before we left, oh, and I found out from Evelyn that it was their group that rented out the other side of it." The apartments had shared a living room, and had several bedrooms. We'd learned from the hotel manager that there was someone who was also using it primarily for holding luggage, and a cat, and were willing to let them use the other side. While talking to Evelyn, I'd found out, randomly, that it was her, Rick, and Jonathan that we shared the apartment with.

"And after that?" Uncle Andrew asked. "What's going to happen when we start heading home?"

"We'll get on a boat and go home. This doctor will probably give you a cane so you can walk more confidently." I said.

"But what about after we get home?" Either Uncle Andrew was unusually paranoid, or he just wanted some reassurance that he wouldn't be left somewhere to just sit all day.

"Well, dad has a little filly that's about three years old." I said. "I'll start training her, to be extra careful and such, and then you can ride around with me all day!"

He smiled, and I knew he just wanted to talk, to take his mind off things. "But what about school?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." I said lightly. "I already know I'm going to be an Egyptologist anyway. And with those jars y'all found, and the cows and horses and everything else had babies before we left, and dad will auction them off when they're ready to go, and so there will be enough money for me to just stay at home, and learn only the things I need to learn, and so I won't have to worry about school, and we can just ride around all day."

Uncle Andrew smiled, then frowned a little and looked slightly behind him. "Who's coming?" He asked.

I looked behind me, Uncle Mark and Dad walking toward us. "It's just Uncle Mark and Dad." I said.

He relaxed. "Oh, okay, good." Then he smiled. "I'm sorry for being so paranoid, I suppose I'll get used to it, all of it, especially my hearing being so good, it's really strange."

"Really, your hearing's changed?" I asked. I didn't know that would happen.

"Yes." Uncle Andrew said. "Right now I can hear your breathing perfectly, and that's how I knew that someone was coming up behind us. And I can feel really faint vibrations whenever something goes by. Really faint ones, but still, they're there."

"Wow." Was all I could say as Uncle Mark and Dad stood by the bench we were sitting on.

Uncle Mark put a hand on Uncle Andrew's arm, and Uncle Andrew turned to face him.

"Okay, we found a doctor, and he's not too far away." Uncle Mark said. I stood up, helping Uncle Andrew.

"Do you need to hang on to our shoulders?" Dad asked.

"No." Uncle Andrew said. "If Sarah will just hold my arm then I think I can make it."

I held onto his arm, and he took a few shaky steps forward. Dad walked beside us, and Uncle Mark walked right behind us, ready to help if Uncle Andrew needed it.

Eventually we got to the doctor's, it was slow going, and Uncle Andrew apologized for being so slow over and over again, despite our constant telling him that it wasn't his fault.

Walking inside, the doctor met us. He was a short man, shorter than Dad, with a red face and lightening, balding, hair, and small reading glasses.

"Bring him in here." He said, I didn't know if his voice was small naturally, or if he was nervous, or if it was just a product of working here for a long period of time.

I steered Uncle Andrew into an examination room, and guided him to a chair.

"Do you want me to take off the bandana?" I asked the doctor.

"Yes, please." He replied. I undid the bandana from where I had tied it in the back of Uncle Andrew's head. I heard the doctor wince, breathing in sharply.

"I won't ask any questions about where this happened." He said, taking a cotton cloth and pouring some sort of antiseptic on it. He set it down, and pulled up a chair in front of Uncle Andrew, picking up the cloth again.

"Young man, may I" He started to ask. Uncle Andrew realized what he was asking, and said, before he could finish

"Yes" he gurgled, and the doctor frowned in surprise.

"What else is wrong?" The doctor asked, knowing that something else must be the matter.

Reluctantly, Uncle Andrew opened his mouth, and the doctor shined a small light into it, leaning forward slightly. As soon as he'd looked, however, he immediately straightened up, looking like he might be sick.

"I'll take care of that in a minute." He finally said after a few seconds. Then he gently put the antiseptic soaked cloth into one of Uncle Andrew's eye sockets, taking a small metal stick, and used it to move the cloth around, cleaning it. Taking it out, he threw the cloth away, and did the same with another one.

"It's obvious that they have been gouged, but it was almost like whoever it was knew exactly how to do it, there's next to no mess." The doctor muttered, almost to himself. Throwing away that cloth, he took a roll of bandaging cloth, and wound it around Uncle Andrew's head, covering his eyes.

"Now, is that too tight or too loose?" He asked.

"No." Uncle Andrew gurgled. The doctor got up, moved the chair, and walked over to a small desk. He got a bowl out from the cabinet, along with a cup, and poured water in the cup, along with salt.

"Now, young man, come over here." He said. I got up to help Uncle Andrew, and guided him over to the table.

"Don't swallow this." The doctor handed him the cup. "Swish it around in your mouth, then spit it out into the bowl." Uncle Andrew felt for the bowl with his hand before he drank the water, swishing it around as he was told, then, putting the cup down, felt for the bowl again, and lowered his head to it, spitting out the water.

"There." The doctor said. "That should wash out anything that might be in your mouth, and I would advise you to be careful when you eat or drink anything. Sadly, I can't do anymore than this. Once or twice a day, you might fill a cup with water and put salt in it, and do the same thing you just did, to keep the under part of your mouth clean from infection. It is not used to being exposed, and it will feel very odd for awhile."

He opened a door, and stepped inside what appeared to be a closet. When he came out again, he carried a cane.

"Now" he handed the cane to Uncle Andrew, who grasped it firmly "I want you to practice walking down the hallway with this before you leave."

We watched Uncle Andrew learn to use his new cane. At first he wasn't quite sure what to do, but the doctor moved his wrist for him and, in a way, showed him how to use it, he learned quickly, and soon we were ready to go. Dad paid the doctor, and we left, and were happy to see Uncle Andrew walking a little more confidently than before. He was not nearly so slow, and we only had to catch him once when we didn't see a loose stone in the middle of the road. We soon made it back to the apartment, and helped Uncle Andrew up the stairs, but he figured out how to use the cane so that he could tell where the stair was, and how high it was, and was soon walking at a steady pace up the stairs.

When we got in the apartment, we found Jonathan about ready to leave it.

"Hello chaps. And Sarah." He smiled, then looked behind him. "I'd advise you to keep as far away from them as possible, and dodge the flying objects." He laughed, then apologized, having temporarily forgotten that Uncle Andrew couldn't see anything, much less dodge.

I knew he was joking about dodging flying objects, but the point was, that as soon as we entered, we heard a shouting match between Rick and Evelyn in her bedroom.

"My job was to take you out there and to bring you back." We heard snatches of something Rick was saying, and moved into another living room.

"Sarah." Dad said. "We're going to help Burns get settled in, do you think you could get him something to drink?"

"Yes." I said, walking out of the room, and down the hall, to where I knew there was a small kitchen. I walked in, and saw a motherly, slightly older maid cleaning.

"Do you need anything, dear?" She asked.

"Yes please, m'am." I said. "Can I get a pot of tea for my uncle?"

"Of course" She smiled. As it so happened, a pot of tea that was on the stove began to whistle, and she took it off, pouring it into a teapot, and found a few teacups and saucers.

"Now, can you manage a tray, dear, or would you like me to help you?" She asked, finding a silver tray and putting the tea pot, cups, and saucers onto it.

"I think I can manage." I smiled. "Thank you very much m'am." Mom had always taught me to be polite to everyone, and you never knew what was going on in that person's life, and you might be making them a lot happier, just by being nice and polite. Sometimes I 'forgot' about that, but it was usually special cases like Beni when that happened.

She smiled again. "You're welcome, dear." She said, handing me the tray, which, I was surprised to find, was not heavy. I walked back to the apartments, carrying the tray, and found Uncle Andrew sitting in a chair next to a fire and a table. He was in a robe now, and I understood why Dad had wanted me to leave.

"Thanks Sarah." Uncle Andrew said as I set down the tray and poured some tea for him.

"Are you sure you don't mind us going down to the" Dad started to ask, but Uncle Andrew stopped him.

"It's fine." He said, and he certainly did seem a lot more comfortable now. "Go ahead, I'm fine. I won't go anywhere." He laughed, and Dad and Uncle Mark seemed to lighten up.

"Alright. Don't light anything on fire." Uncle Mark laughed, and I was reminded of the time when I was younger, before Mom died, when Uncle Mark, Dad, and Uncle Andrew had been clowning around with a burning stick, and had lit what would have been our Christmas tree on fire.

"Don't worry." Uncle Andrew laughed. We said goodbye, and closed the door for him. We walked down the stairs into the bar, I, of course, couldn't drink anything, but I figured that Jonathan was probably down there, I could talk to him.

But as soon as we stepped in the door, I noticed that Dad's lightened mood had come crashing right back down to where it had been. Uncle Mark was a little happier, but his mood had sunk a little too. I guess we couldn't really help it. It was easy to get depressed when the friend not directly responsible for the depression wasn't around to make sure you were happy. We walked toward the bar, and found Jonathan and Rick sitting there.

"Well, we're all packed up, but the boat doesn't leave until tomorrow." Uncle Mark said, leaning on the counter next to Jonathan. Dad sat next to Rick, and pointed at a bottle of whiskey, which the bartender handed him a shot of. I sat next to him, to make sure he didn't drink too much.

"Tail set firmly between your legs, I see." Jonathan said.

"Yeah," Uncle Mark said as Jonathan poured him some whiskey. "You can talk, you don't have some sacred walking corpse after ya."

Rick turned to Dad. "So, uh, how's your friend?" He asked.

"He had his eyes and his tongue ripped out." Dad replied bitterly. "How would you be?" He walked off. I moved over a seat.

"Sorry about Dad." I apologized to Rick. "He just takes things kinda hard. And Uncle Andrew was mom's brother, not to mention one of his best friends since grade school."

"Oh." Rick said, understanding. "Are you alright, though?"

"I've felt better." I admitted. "But I've been talking to Uncle Andrew about it when Dad and Uncle Mark weren't around, and he won't let them talk about it. He always changes the subject." I remembered the walk home, when they'd tried, but Uncle Andrew would manage to change the subject every time.

"Hey" Uncle Mark called our attention. "A group of people just left, let's go sit down over there." He pointed to a table on another wall.

We moved over, sitting down next to a few other men, who knew English, and they began talking to us. Jonathan made some toast, and they all drank to it, but suddenly spat it out.

"What was that?" Uncle Mark said, wiping a drop of it off of his chin, where it had stuck to his beginnings of beard. "It tasted just like-"

"Blood." Rick dropped his shot glass, standing up. I looked over, and gasped. The fountain that we were sitting next to was now a deep red, blood red.

"He's here." Rick said, and our eyes opened wide.