Chapter 5: Rick's Plan
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The human body, Ardeth Bay had decided, was a wondrous thing. No matter what you did to it, it went on stubbornly living. It had an amazing capacity for pain, and it didn't care what you thought, just as long as you kept on living.
"Well?" The blade was cool against his skin.
He said nothing. They had ridden hard through the night and day and reached the cliff late this evening.
The knife caressed his cheek. "You won't lead them much longer, Ardeth Bay. You won't even *be* one of them much longer." He flinched as the tip of the blade poked at the skin just under his eye, but the hand in his hair held him still and he could not move far.
"Would you like to know how it felt?" The blade turned and ran lightly along the symbols tattooed on his cheek. "Would you like to taste your own blood?"
Ardeth said nothing.
"Tell me again how you killed my brother." Kadyn ran the knife over the same spot it had just touched, and a thin line of blood appeared over the blue tattoo of the Med-jai.
His hands were still shackled behind him, and so Kadyn could not see as Ardeth balled them into fists in an effort to stay silent.
"Tell me!" Kadyn Nah demanded. "Tell me about your arrogance, Med-jai, your superiority. Tell me who made you the judge over who lives and who dies. Tell me or I'll kill you right now."
That might not be so bad, Ardeth thought grimly. The way things were going, he was beginning to think of death as a welcome release.
"Tell me!" The knife slashed deep, and immediately blood ran from the cut.
Ardeth spit in Kadyn Nah's face. It was the deadliest insult a man of the desert could offer, for to waste precious liquid on another man was to imply that he was less than nothing. Kadyn recoiled and backhanded Ardeth into the tentpole.
"You," the former Med-jai growled, "will regret that."
Despite everything, Ardeth almost laughed. There were many things in his life that he regretted, but this moment was surely was not one of them.
****
They rode through the day, pausing occasionally to water the horses, begrudging the time lost. As the sun began to sink in the west, they stopped for the last time and made camp. They sat around the fire and laid their plans and then parted.
"Rick, are you sure about this?"
They stood outside his tent, for he had wanted to be alone when he said his farewell. He might have lingered all night, had she let him, for he did not want to leave her. It was Evy who had broken their embrace and forcibly led him from the tent.
She was worried, that little frownline appearing between her brows. He felt bad about that, about being the one to make her worry. "Evy, I have to," he said.
He had made a promise, after all. And they owed Ardeth. But where Evy and Jonathan had repaid their debt by saving Ardeth's life -- Evy on the bus and Jonathan in the Oasis -- he, Rick O'Connell had not. All he had ever done was put his friend's life in danger and then asked for more.
I need you to help me find my son, he had said, and Ardeth had listened. The Med-jai had followed him further into the Oasis to help him save Alex, rather than returning to his own people and preparing for the battle against the Army of Anubis.
He frowned, thinking about that day. For the first time, he wondered how Ardeth had made it safely through the jungle without being attacked by those pygmy mummies. And he wanted to know. He wanted the chance to ask. He wanted to see his friend again.
Faisal walked up. "The camp is where Evy said it would be," the Med-jai said. "It lies at the base of a cliff."
Rick nodded. He had an urge to check his guns again, and held himself still only with a great effort.
"We will wait for your signal, then provide cover fire. Do not linger. The cliff wall curves inward, beyond the camp. There will be two horses waiting for you there." Faisal hesitated, then said, "It may be that Ardeth cannot ride alone. If that is true, do not bother yourself with the second horse. Either way, we will be behind you. Return to this place as swiftly as you can."
"Won't they chase you?" Evy asked.
Faisal ibn Sheik grinned humorlessly. "Probably."
"So what happens when we get back here?" Rick asked.
"We will decide that when it is time," Faisal replied. He held out a dark bundle. "Here. Put this on."
Rick took it, mystified. He shook it out and saw that it was a black Med-jai robe. At his raised eyebrow, Faisal merely nodded and walked away.
He looked around, wondering if they were all watching him, and only pretending to be involved in their own activities. Only an hour remained of daylight. The plan called for Rick to wait until dark, then sneak into the camp. Realizing what the robe was for now, he pulled it over his head, settling it over his shoulders. Now his white shirt was hidden, and he would blend easily into the night.
Evy's eyes gleamed as she looked at him.
"Don't get any ideas," he warned, feeling both silly and somehow stronger. In the robes of a Med-jai, he almost felt like he truly was a warrior for God.
"You look nice," Evy murmured, stepping close. She ran a fingernail over the stubble on his cheek, sending a shiver through him. "Very nice."
He grinned. "Really?"
She nodded, walking around him, admiring what she saw. "A woman could get swept off her feet by such a tall, dark, handsome man."
Now his grin was from ear to ear. "Really?"
"Oh, yes." Evy stopped before him. "In fact, after Hamunaptra, it was all I could do not to throw myself at Ardeth's feet. Didn't you know that?"
Rick's smile died.
His wife laughed. "Oh, Rick. There was always only you." She put her arms around his neck. "But I must admit, you do look very dashing now, dressed like this."
He disentangled himself from her, suddenly longing for the moment he could cast off the black robe. "Right." But he couldn't stay mad, not when a part of him was jumping for joy to see her laughing. She laughed too rarely these days.
****
They rode away from the camp, leaving Evy behind with Alex and Jonathan and a single Med-jai warrior.
Shortly after their departure, they split into two groups. The Med-jai would ride around and come on the camp from the north side. Rick would approach from the south.
Faisal led him to the place where the cliff wall curved. Beyond it was the camp. "Here." The Med-jai commander held out his hands. Resting atop his palms was the curved sword belonging to Ardeth. "Return it to him."
Rick took the sword, noting how delicately balanced it was, how worn the grip was. It had to be ancient, he thought.
"O'Connell." Faisal stared at him. "There is one more thing you must know."
He thrust the sword through a loop in the belt of his robe. "What's that?"
"We had three days to decide," Faisal said. "Tomorrow morning will be the fourth day."
It was as if the man had reached out and punched him in the gut. "So you're saying that if this doesn't work, they're going to kill Ardeth tomorrow."
"Yes."
"Shit." His shoulders slumped. "Why the hell didn't you tell us?"
"We did not wish to upset you."
"It's a little late for that!" Rick snapped. "Our friend's been kidnapped. Wouldn't you say that's upsetting enough?"
Faisal merely lifted an eyebrow. "Do you want them to hear you?"
Instantly he clamped his jaw shut.
The Med-jai dismounted from his horse. "Wait a few hours. When you are ready, give us a signal. We will be on the other side of the camp. We will cover you, then follow."
Rick nodded. "All right."
"Good luck," said Faisal ibn Sheik. He walked away, leaving Rick alone.
"Insh'allah," Rick whispered.
If God wills it.
****
"It's your last night alive, Ardeth Bay. How do you want to spend it?" Kadyn Nah chuckled, amused by his own wit.
His prisoner said nothing.
He held out the bottle he was currently draining. "It's almost gone. Sure you don't want any? All you have to do is beg. You must be awfully thirsty by now." He shook the bottle so the water inside sloshed noisily, but even that got no response.
Kadyn scowled. Damn. It was no fun tormenting someone who didn't care.
Ardeth was still chained to the tentpole, legs sprawled before him. A loop of rope about his throat secured him further to the post. Kadyn didn't like how the Med-jai's head fell forward when he was unconscious, so the rope had remedied that. Now he could always see Ardeth's face. As an added bonus, on occasion the Med-jai's head would nod, and then he would strangle, until finding the strength to lift his head once more. Another man might have simply stopped fighting and let himself choke, but Ardeth Bay was not that kind of man.
Kadyn swigged from the bottle again, and when he lowered it, Ardeth was looking at him. He grinned. "I knew you were awake!"
The Med-jai looked away, staring dully at nothing.
"You know, the only thing that could make this any better," Kadyn said, "was if you had a brother or somebody who cared about you. Someone who would be left behind after you died, trying to pick up the pieces of their ruined life."
His hand bore down on the neck of the bottle hard enough to hurt. Lock Nah had been dead for eight months, but the pain of his brother's death was still raw. "But there's no one, is there?" he taunted. "No one who gives a shit about you. The Med-jai are going to let you die. They care more about their damn City than they do about one of their own."
Ardeth seemed to consider this. "No," he said finally, speaking quietly. "That is not true."
"No?" Kadyn spat.
"You know it is not true," Ardeth said. "That is how you tricked me in the first place." The Med-jai looked at him, and Kadyn could swear there was triumph in those eyes.
Damn! The O'Connells! He had forgotten them. Impotent fury swept through him as he realized his latest attempt to hurt Ardeth had backfired. Seized by the sudden, overwhelming desire to smash something, he hurled the bottle at Ardeth.
He missed. The bottle struck the post above Ardeth's head and shattered, dumping water onto the sand. The Med-jai's lips twitched in the ghost of a smile, then he started coughing. The rope around his neck allowed him little freedom of movement, and he choked, fighting for breath.
Kadyn watched, grimly satisfied. So what if he had missed? This was better.
At last the coughing subsided, and Ardeth slumped back, closing his eyes. A thin ribbon of blood snaked from the corner of his mouth, down his chin. He groaned softly.
It was the first time the Med-jai had given voice to his pain. Kadyn stood up, gloating. "Well," he smirked, "that sure took long enough. But we don't have to stop there, do we?"
Smiling delightedly, he drove his foot with all his strength into the Med-jai's side, right where he knew those broken ribs to be.
****
The camp was still and quiet, except for two tents where lantern light glowed within. Fires burned at each end of the camp, and the tents were arranged in two rows of ten. Straight ahead he could see their horses in a crudely built wooden corral. One man sat before the fire at this end of the camp, but that was all. Rick crept forward, hugging the base of the cliff, moving with excruciating slowness. He was cheered by that single guard. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
He had had a moment's worry earlier, when he realized he had no idea where to find Ardeth. But one tent was bigger than the others, and a light shone from inside, so that surely had to be the one.
He moved slowly, advancing on them. He chose his footing with care, not wanting to dislodge any of the fallen rocks underfoot, or make any sounds that might give him away.
And then he heard it: a choked-off cry of pain that could only come from one person. Rick froze, his heart pounding.
That cry frightened him badly. He remembered how proud Ardeth was, how stoic the warrior had been after being wounded on the bus in London. Had the man's injuries not been obvious, they might never have known, at least not judging by Ardeth's demeanor. All through the lonely days in Izzy's dirigible when they were chasing Imhotep, Ardeth had not once complained, although he must have been hurting, his wounds only beginning to heal.
And now someone was hurting Ardeth enough to make him cry out. Rick pulled his gun and hoped dearly that he would put it to good use before this night was over.
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