A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait. I didn't even realize so many month had passed. So here is the next chapter. Still more a fill chappie, but I think it is neccessary to do things slow. The romance as well as the adventure. Gives me more time to think about things^^

Enjoy.

Chapter eight: Home is where the heart is

A few days later:

Samina Bay endured a lot of misery in her life. Her mother died giving birth to her little brother, when she was barely five. Not ten years later her father and brother followed her, when their tribe was attacked by errant thieves. Her mother's family was from the first tribe of the Medjai and she had been forced to leave her friends and home to live with them. There she had met her future love and husband the chieftains first born son, Aden.

At first she could not stand the arrogant and cocky boy, who had a smile and charming words for every woman that passed his way. But somehow Aden got it in his head, that she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Her refusal and dismissive act towards him, only made him more determined to win her over and in the end she gave in. Samina had not regretted one day she had spent at his side. Aden was everything she ever wished for as a husband and was a wonderful father to their child Ardeth, who adored him.

The day his dead body was brought back to her, she had thought she would die too. The arch she felt in her chest could not have been worse, if someone had ripped her heart out. Ardeth was in England at the time and Samina had been grateful that he was not forced to see his farther like that.

Her poor boy had been pushed into the role of a leader much too early in his life. It was not fair that he was forced to take over the responsibility for so many people, but he did not complain and Samina was proud to say that he did a fabulous job. Even though he was confronted with more evil than any other chieftain before him in a long while.

The creature they all had vowed to watch over, had escaped its grave not only once but twice and attacked them with ancient plagues and evils. They had lost many of their own, but under Ardeth's leadership they had been able to defeat Imhotep for good.

After everything he had been through Samina had hoped he would finally settle down and marry. He needed a good woman who would love him, listen to his problems and encourage him when he faltered. A man of his position needed a strong woman who had his back.

With the good looks of his farther and the many tales of his bravery against Imhotep, there were many woman among their tribes who would love to hold the position of his wife. But regardless of their beauty, charm and determination her son had little more than a friendly smile for them. There were times, where she seriously doubted she would ever hold a grandchild in her arms. A long time ago she had even questioned, if he was interested in women at all?

Of course that was before she stumbled upon him and a girl from another tribe, who was there with her mother to visit their aunt for a few days. She had been so relieved that she had not yelled at the two for such behaviour, in a store tent at that.

Ever since that day she had prayed that he would find a woman who could hold his interested for longer than a night, but he was too much like his farther. Aden once told her that he just knew that she was the one for him the first time he saw her and Samina guessed it would be the same for Ardeth. She only hoped it would not take him too long to meet her, she was not getting any younger and she did not want to die without the knowledge that her son was happy and taken care of.

She should have known though, that her son would not go easy on her. No! Sure, she had just told her friend Jasmina, that by now she would be happy about any woman at his side, as long he was happy. But this...

The moment she had laid eyes on the woman that accompanied her son back to his tribe, Samina just knew that she was the god's twisted answer to her prayers. She was truly beautiful, no one could deny that. In a pale, exotic kind of way. Her dark auburn hair literally glittered in the sun, as she pushed the protecting layers of cloth to the side and more than one man looked at her with awe written on their faces. She could not blame them, even she herself was spellbound for a moment, although she realised it was a trick played by the sun. The spell was broken however, when her son tried to help her from her dromedary and she snapped at him in irritation, reminding him that he was in no condition to do so.

Samina was not sure what she found more shocking, the fact that her son was obviously hurt or that this foreign woman had no qualms telling him off. She was not sure if she ever witnessed a woman arguing with Ardeth. Well, beside herself. His position as chief usually allowed her stubborn son to get things his way. Ardeth's answer was just as snappy and for a moment she simply watched the banter between those two, a smile tugging at her mouth. It was about time that a woman stood up to him.

She noticed Rashid hesitantly approaching his chief and instantly remembered that there was once again trouble blooming and once again it was her son, who was expected to make things right.

Sighing she realised that she would have to wait to greet her son, but maybe she could use the time to find out more about his companion. After all who was she to question the gods?

Lilly was not sure what to make of the woman, Samina, who had invited her into her tent to freshen up. At first she had thought nothing of it, just a nice gesture towards a guest. Hospitality was very common among desert tribes. A necessary in a dangerous environment like the desert.

Ardeth had vanished as soon as they had arrived at the camp and although Lilly was not happy about, it she understood that he would have to honour his obligations towards his tribe. Hopefully he would come up with a plan.

"How did you and my son meet?" The unexpected question ripped her out of her musing.

"Your son?" Uncomfortable Lilly starred at the woman. If Ardeth was her son, that would make her Aden's wife. Everything always seemed to go back to Aden and that day in the alley.

"Um...we met each other at museum in Cairo." During a robbery, she wanted to add but that sounded so dramatic. "During a soiree."

"Ah," Samina raised her eye brow as if she had a hard time imagining her son attending a soiree. "That sounds...nice." Yeah, right.

Samina looked as if she wanted to say more but, could not find the right words. That was the moment Lilly noticed Ardeth's mother had been speaking English with her, but obviously she was not all that comfortable with it. Stupid as she was, Lilly told her that they continue their conversation in Arabic if she felt more comfortable with it.

"You speak our tongue?" Samina beamed at her and Lilly did not like the gleam that entered the woman's eyes. "I mean no disrespect, but how is it that you speak our language so fluently?"

"I grew up in Cairo, it was bound to happen." She shrugged. Her mother had been anything but happy, when she realised that her daughter was more fluent in that barbaric tongue and English as she was in German. As her mother was the only one around who spoke it and Lilly tried to avoid spending time with her, even as a child, it was no wonder. Her father could speak German too, but when they were alone he preferred to talk to her in his native tongue.

Samina raised an eyebrow at her, obviously she wanted to hear more. "My father was a professor for Egyptology and ancient languages. When the war broke out, he fled the country with my mother and me. For a few years I lived here before I had to go back."

"You didn't want to?"

"No, why would I? Everything I knew and loved was here." Lilly noticed how similar their talk was to that she had with the woman's husband and felt extremely uncomfortable with it. Should she mention that she had been with Aden the day he died? But what was she supposed to say? Oh by the way, I met your husband all those years ago. You know when he was bleeding to death in that shabby street. I didn't notice that he was hurt, I was too engrossed with the gift he bestowed on me! She winced. No, better not say anything.

"That is why you came back." Samina nodded. "And is it like you remember? Did you find enough things you love to stay here again?" Something in the way the question was asked made Lilly extremely cautious to answer, but she quickly lost herself in the love she held for this land.

"Um, yes. I love the people here. The streets are always busy and colourful, not like back in Germany where everything is straight and stiff. I love the heat, though I always have to be careful due to my pale skin and I specially love Egypt's history. I've been reading dozen of books and travelled to many of the remaining temples and statures. I try to imagine what it must have looked like in its prime and wish I could have seen it, just once. And..." She noticed that she was babbling like a waterfall and blushed. Normally she was not such a chatterbox, but it was not often that she had the opportunity to talk about it. Not since her father's death.

The smile on Samina's face made her feel a bit less embarrassed though.

"You should ask Ardeth to show you some of the sacred places. Nobody knows as much about them as we Medjai. I'm sure my son would love to take you there." Again the woman had that odd gleam in her eyes.

"Um, I'm not so sure if Ardeth would be so willing." The only reason she was here was because she bribed him. He certainly would not take her on a sightseeing tour.
"Ah, nonsense! If he invited you here, he will certainly accompany you to see a few of the ancient monuments."

"Well, he didn't exactly invite me here. Actually he wasn't happy about me coming along, but he didn't have much of a choice." Sooner or later Ardeth would tell his mother about this. So maybe it was better if she was the one who told the woman. God knew how Ardeth would make it sound.

"What do you mean?"

Sighing she told her about Ardeths injury and her role in his recovery. Although she glossed it over, she could still see the fear in Samina's eyes.

"So you saved my sons life?"

"Not really. I simply paid a doctor to do so."

"But you obviously care a great deal about my son, if you are willing to go through all the trouble." Lilly felt her eyes widen, but before she could say anything Samina continued. "He is a good man my son, but a bit slow when it comes to certain matters. You just have to be a bit patient with him."

"What?" She stuttered, horrified at the turn their talk has taken. "No, it's nothing like that!"

"Of course not," Samina agreed quickly, but Lilly could see the smile tugging at her lips.

Great, as if her life had not been complicated enough, without Ardeths mother thinking she was in love with her son. Could her life get any more complicated?

It could, as she soon would find out.

"I'm ashamed to inform you, that some of the foreigners were successful in raiding the Karnak Temple Complex, two nights ago." Rashid told him, as soon as they had entered his tent.

Although Ardeth had suspected something like that, he felt a cold chill creep down his back. He had hoped to position more of his men around the Temple Complex, to prevent the treasure hunters from succeeding in their search.

"Are you sure my friend?" He knew his second would not have told him if he was not sure, but the twisted feeling inside his stomach made him ask anyway.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Was anybody hurt while they tried to stop them?" Ardeth knew the answer to that as well. None of his men would have watched deed-less while strangers robbed one of their sacred places. But since the battle against Anubis their numbers where dwindling and it was difficult to protect all the places they needed. Specially in times like this, where many different locations where being explored by strangers. He should have stopped the foreigner's weeks ago, while they were still digging. Now it was too late.

"Rafi and Zafar did not make it. Three others were hurt, we are not sure if Hamid will make it."

Ardeth sucked in a deep breath. This was worth than he expected. "What did they take?"

"That's the worst part, chief." If his best friend was calling him by his title it had to be fatal. "We are not sure what they found. Hamid told us he saw some kind of gold encrusted plate with hieroglyphs on it, but he was not near enough to get a better description."

It was like he feared. Many secrets had been lost, over time but with his new knowledge about the medallion Ardeth had a pretty good idea, what they found.

"You remember what your father told us about the day, my father was killed?"

If Rashid was surprised about his sudden change of topic he did not show it, but simply nodded.

"They indeed found the medallion." At this his friend sucked in a shocked breath. "Father had been deadly wounded and tried to hide in one of the side alleys. He knew that his attackers would find him sooner or later, so he did the only sensible thing and entrusted the gem to another person. A small child, a girl, who happened to come across him."

"How do you know of this?"

"The woman who arrived with me," at this Rashid smirked at him. "She was the girl who found my father." At that the smirk left his friend's lips. "Her family left Egypt soon after and she didn't come back here until a year ago. It was by chance that I met her at the museum."

"Or destiny, my friend. The gods are known for their odd humour." With a snort he had to agree with Rashid. Maybe Lilly was godly send, though Ardeth was not sure if she was a curse or a blessing.

"Regardless of the reason behind our meeting, I was able to learn about fathers last hours. She was too young to comprehend what was going on, but she cherished his gift to her and always carried it with her."

"Do you mean...you mean the medallion is here? With her?"

"No. Unfortunately we were robbed before she could return the gem to me."

Rashid looked as if he was not sure if his chief was playing him a joke. Blinking he opened his mouth but shut it before anything came out. After a moment he tried again. "Robbed? Is that why you are injured?"

Sighing Ardeth shook his head and deemed it best to tell his friend what had happened since he had left the camp.

"So she rescued her life." Gritting his teeth Ardeth nodded. Rashid had the annoying habit to get to the point. "If things continue for you two like before, it won't take you long to fulfil your life debt. Besides it doesn't seem like such a hardship to keep her close until then."

Ardeth did not care one bit for the irritated feeling that was overcoming him, at his friend's words and quickly changed the topic.

"As it is I have a fairly good idea what they stole from the Karnak temple. And if I'm right they will need three more pieces before they can find what they are really after. We need to increase our attempts to guard the Temple Complex in Dendera as well as the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut."

"You really think they would try to release her?" Rashid looked aghast. "That is insane!"

"The greed for power makes people do frightening things. I fear they will do anything in their power to reach their goal."

Ardeth hoped that they would be able to stop them, however after two encounters with Imhotep their chances to succeed weren't as high as they once had been. Already he had lost two men and the worst part was jet to come.

TBC