All right, we're nearing then end people! It's going to be a mad dash to the finish line from here. I already have my ending planned out, and I think it will satisfy most people, but just incase I'll say this now. If enough people REALLY want a sequel, or even an epilogue, I'll be glad to try. Thank-you, and enjoy the story!
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Corin's head throbbed, her nose burned, her eyes felt like mush. Where am I? She couldn't remember much of the kidnapping. She'd screamed, or had it been Eve? She had heard Uncle Rick yelling, and Jonathan. And then something cold was pressed over her nose and mouth. Then blackness. She lay there, wherever she was, for a few moments. Every individual limb of her body ached. Parts of her she'd never felt before ached. It was quiet all around.
Finally, Corin decided to open her eyes. She was in a room, a bedroom. But it was a different type of bedroom. Everything was old fashioned; all the furniture looked like it had come straight from the pages of National Geographic. Her eyes bugged. She wasn't wearing the same clothes anymore. Someone had changed her clothes! She was now wearing a long dress of thin cream material, tied with an intricately embroidered sash. To her surprise, there was a slipper, the exact shade of her shoes, on her foot.
Sitting up she assessed personal damage. Other than aching limbs, there were no signs of physical harm. She got up slowly. There was only one door in the room, and even though it was sure to be locked she walked over to it. She gave the knob a jiggle, and to her surprise it opened. Before lay a long hallway lit by torches. The get up of this place was starting to really freak her out. With a deep breath she set off down the hallway, determined to find some answers. Tentatively she called out, hoping for some familiar voice or landmark.
"Hello? Is there anyone there? Hellooooooo?" There was only silence.
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Rick could not remember a longer night than the journey back to Egypt. There was no comfort, no reassurance that his wife and niece were all right. There was no way to know if they had been harmed, no way to know if they were even alive. There was nothing to do but sit, try to sleep, and wait. He had only Jonathan to talk to, how could he talk to any of the other passengers, what could he possibly say to them? How could he even pretend to be happy when Eve and Corin could be dead?
Why did this stuff always happen? Why was it always Eve that got kidnapped by the psychopaths? Weren't there any other women in the world to play the part of damsel in distress? Not that Eve really counted as a damsel. She could hold her own now a days. And now Corin was part of this too, something he had been dreading since the decision had been made to come to Egypt. Now, her whole life would be changed forever. Whatever happened now, Corin would never be able to forget, never be able to live a "normal" life. That option had been taken away from her without her even knowing, without her even having a say. Did it run in their family? Were the women in his life genetically programmed to attract trouble?
Rick buried his head in his hands. The ship seemed to inch along; the seconds seemed to tick backwards. He wished they would count back far enough to let him see his wife again, safe in the hotel room. He wished they would let him go back far enough to prevent them from even being taken. He wished he could go back far enough to stop Lydia from dying and leaving her daughter alone. So his wife could see her sister.
But that was impossible. Time was time, and it ran only one way. No matter how much he wished it otherwise, he had to deal with the hand he had been thrown. He had to find a way to fix things, in the future, and no good would come of wishing it there faster. There was nothing to do but wait, and wait he did.
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Ardeth could feel his blood chill. They were here. He cursed silently and hid himself behind a column. What was the old saying, out of sight out of mind? Viktor wasn't likely to issue orders if he couldn't see the Medjai leader. Ardeth held his breath. That helped sometimes. It was hard to even avoid his "master", to willfully deceive him. Holding his breath sometimes helped to keep his head clear. Helped him find himself again. Of course it was only a temporary solution to a rapidly mounting problem.
Once the "Pharaoh" had passed, dressed to kill in his new costume, Ardeth snuck back out. He needed to find them. Eve and Corin. Before it was too late. Before he was ordered to do something awful and any chance of helping them escape was gone. Corin... He shut his eyes and begged Allah for strength. Whatever happened, he needed to get them out.
It was getting harder to focus, harder to find himself with every day that passed. Soon it would be too late, and if he couldn't escape by then, he would become a mindless zombie servant, useless to help his friends avoid death and imprisonment. His mind was still reeling from deceiving his "master". The bond that tied him to the Pharaoh was impossibly strong. He knew he needed to act now and save Eve and Corin before it was too late.
Serving Viktor did have its advantages. He was allowed in on many important conversations, a robot ready to serve. While he was in the presence of is "master" he couldn't actually process the information, but later, when he was alone, he could remember entire conversations and complex plans. So although Viktor's refurbished Hamunaptra was enormous, Ardeth knew exactly where Eve and Corin were being kept. He took a deep breath. Time to take action.
At that moment the doors at the opposite end of the hallway swung open. Allah! It cannot be Viktor already! Ardeth felt all hope draining from him. The Pharaoh was back, time had run out. Any second now he would be called upon to fetch Eve and Corin and bring them to the great hall. From there, no one's future would be certain. He looked out, ready to see Viktor's hateful face, but instead he saw someone very different. His stomach gave a little flip.
"Corin?"
There could be no denying that she was the girl in his dreams. There could be no denying that this was Rhodopis to his Xanthos. Forced into a costume era appropriate, she simply was Rhodopis. Her eyes, her face... Everything about her was perfect. But does she know? Does she remember as well?
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Corin swung open the doors at the end of the hallway. The room before her was massive, a great glittering hall. She took a few shuffled steps forward, eyes glazed over in wonder. She had never seen a place so large in all her life...and yet she had. She had the strangest sensation that she had been there before. But when?
"Corin." A voice called out, familiar in so many ways. A voice she had never been so happy to hear in all her life. It struck her, then, how she knew that voice. In her dreams...the ones that left her flushed and uncomfortable upon awaking, the ones that made her ache in a strangely wonderful way...the man, Xanthos...Her eyes sought him out, needing to see him, needing to be sure.
When their eyes finally met, there could be no doubt. The same confusion, the same pain, and yes, the same love in her own eyes were mirrored there. And for a moment nothing else mattered.
"Ardeth?" Corin didn't know what to say, what words could express the way she felt, could express everything there was to say between them.
"It's all right. I know."