Ardeth

I am not pleased with the German leader, this Hauptman Deitrich. He insists that Alex continue the journey to Ahm Shere with the troops. This is a bad idea. There is nothing at Ahm Shere but sand and death. I find myself echoing O'Connell's comment on Hamunaptra. Still, the German has not offered harm to the young man, nor has he treated me with the contempt so many of his people feel for the "non-Aryan", whatever that is.

The woman is troubled by something. She speaks of the massacre at a wadi the day we met at Hamunaptra. All the females were taken, and not just the women, but the animals as well. I agree that this is disturbing, and that there is a small probability that slavers took the women and animals, especially when she says even tiny children were taken. There is something going on here I do not understand. I worry for my people, but not as much as for the Germans who stride ahead as though there is nothing wrong here.

I have seen the English Sgt. two or three times since I became a part of this journey. He and the younger warrior have hidden themselves in the trucks as drivers. I suspect the other two follow us. I do not wish to become a part of this war, it is not for us. But whatever we travel to, that may need the attention of my people. The wind shifts the sands around us in complicated patterns I do not understand. A falcon flies overhead now and again. Abdul and his men follow us.

As I continued to observe the drive, as boring as it has become, I am aware of the woman watching me. She smiles. There is much I would know about her, yet there is something old in her eyes when I look at her. There is age where there should not be.

She leaned toward me. "I worry you." It was a statement, not a question. "I probably should," she continued. "There is something very wrong out here," she confirmed my own feelings. "I don't know what yet, but I've seen the kind of thing that happened to Gruber before and it's not good."

"You do not tell the German this?" I did not understand how she would not warn him.

"He wouldn't believe me. Our Hauptman Dietrich is very much grounded in science and the real, he has no patience with the occultist endeavors of his leader. He will follow orders to find and deliver, but he believes in the military and in weapons, strategy, numbers. What we may find at Ahm Shere will try his beliefs and possibly his sanity."

"There is nothing at Ahm Shere," I reminded her.

"Still, it is a place of power. O'Connell spoke of a rip between here and the Egyptian afterlife? An opening seething with souls of the damned. Or at least, souls."

"Yet you tell me O'Connell would not know you if I asked," I pursued my need to understand where she came into this.

She chuckled at that. "O'Connell hasn't met me yet," she replied cryptically. "It's … complicated. But truly, your people have nothing to fear from me. Whatever brought me here … it's a problem to be solved. I'm good at that."

We both caught the German frowning at us as he motioned for the convoy to take a rest stop. He dropped from his own car and walked to ours as the vehicles came to rest. "And what is so interesting that you discuss it among yourselves?" he asked as he stepped onto the running board.

"Ahm Shere, Hauptman Dietrich. Ahm Shere," the woman answered him with a smile.

"Comparing stories?" There was suspicion in his question.

"Why, Hauptman, it sounds like you don't trust us," she shot back with deceptive mildness. "Are we not allowed to compare our knowledge?"

"It occurs to me that there may be reasons for you to want to deceive me."

"Hauptman, the one thing the two of us are agreed on is that there is nothing at Ahm Shere. The Blue Nile is there as a water source for anyone, so that is not an issue. Whatever you seek at the vanished oasis … well, that remains to be seen whether it is a problem for the Reich to have it or not; presuming you find whatever it is. Bey watched the destruction of the oaisis as did Mr. O'Connell and his parents. Whatever you may think of the rest of the tale, the destruction is the one thing they all agree about."

"Yes, I have seen the reports. Superstitious nonsense. A pyramid cannot implode. A sandstorm, or several, may have buried the site, but that does not make it nonexistant. We will see when we arrive. It would be wise not to lie to me," he admonished before dropping off the vehicle and heading for the rest of the convoy to oversee the camp set up.

"Fuck," she said distinctly. For a moment she sagged into her seat looking ancient and timeless. Her eyes caught mine and she straightened. "Well, I've been in worse positions. We'll manage. Should we wake the boy or let him sleep?"